Australian regulators have been concerned about FTX since March 2022, according to a report by The Guardian. This was eight months before the collapse of cryptocurrency exchanges.
According to documents obtained by Guardian Australia, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued three notices to FTX to conduct “surveillance activities” months before the exchange collapsed.
FTX had an Australian Financial Services License (AFS) to operate in Australia. Regulators were concerned that the exchange had evaded scrutiny when issuing new licenses.
As such, the regulator has issued s912C notices to the now-defunct exchanges in April 2022. ASIC has asked FTX to provide information to allow it to assess whether ASIC is in compliance with the license terms and whether it is eligible to hold an AFS license.
An ASIC spokesperson told The Guardian that regulators are concerned about exchange pricing, user onboarding and compliance with ASIC’s product intervention orders.
FTX owes approximately $1 million in cryptocurrency and cash to Australian investors. Following a US bankruptcy filing, ASIC suspended his AFS license on the exchange as the company went into self-management in Australia.
According to the report, ASIC is now investigating FTX for “suspected corporate law violations.”
