Cryptoassets: the Autorité des Marchés Financiers warns the public about the activities of several fraudulent market participants and publishes a new ‘blacklist’

As part of its update, the AMF is adding to and reorganising the list of websites illegally offering digital asset services and raising funds through token issues (ICOs) in France into a dedicated blacklist. This cryptoasset blacklist includes all the websites that are not authorised by the AMF, as well as newly identified websites.

Today, in order to offer services in France entailing the custody of digital assets (more commonly known as cryptoassets), the purchase/sale of digital assets against legal tender, the trading of digital assets for other digital assets or the operation of a digital asset trading platform, it is essential to be registered with the AMF.

In addition, only companies that have obtained AMF approval for an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) may canvass investors when issuing these tokens.

On its website, the AMF lists those websites that are offering such services illegally in France or that are canvassing investors illegally to offer them tokens without having obtained AMF approval. It has just added nine new sites to this list:

www.zoomex.com
trade-pro.io
the-bitcoin-bank.com
krawl-offers.com/bitcoin-bank-alt
www.mexc.com
www.coinex.com
biticodes.com
zenithexchange.ltd
sparkgenesisai.com

With the aim of making its prevention and warning initiatives more transparent, the AMF has decided to create a new blacklist, specifically dedicated to these unauthorised websites operating in the cryptoasset segment. Retail and professional investors alike will now be able to download the list of unauthorised websites specifically for this field, without having to consult the full table of warnings.

This new list supplements the AMF's arsenal of blacklists, which also includes a list of unauthorised websites specifically offering cryptoasset derivatives.

The list of all the websites that are not authorised to offer services based on digital assets or ICOs is available on the AMF website (under: Warnings → Blacklists) and on the website of Assurance Banque Épargne Info Service (ABEIS) (under: Prévention arnaques → Listes noires et alertes des autorités).

In order to ensure that an entity offering digital asset services is authorised to operate in France, the whitelist of digital asset services providers is available on the AMF website.

For any questions, please contact:
AMF: https://www.amf-france.org/en or call +33 (0)1 5345 6200, Monday to Friday, 9am to 12.30pm.

A list of initial coin offerings that have been approved by the AMF is also available. Approval indicates that the AMF has verified that the information document for this offer is complete and easy for investors to understand. It by no means constitutes an incentive to invest in these offers, which are inherently very risky.

About the AMF
The AMF is an independent public authority responsible for ensuring that savings invested in financial products are protected and that investors are provided with adequate information. The AMF also supervises the orderly operations of markets.Visit our website https://www.amf-france.org/en