South Africans were warned to avoid trading with ByBit Fintec Limited (ByBit).
CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) said ByBit which is based in the Seychelles, offers trading in derivative instruments through its online trading platform.
“It has come to our attention that ByBit is offering the South African public access to its online platform to trade in, amongst others, derivatives instruments.
“ByBit is not authorised to give any financial advice or render any intermediary services in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS Act) in South Africa. Without commenting on the business of ByBit or its products and services, the FSCA points out that, for a company to offer CFD (Contracts for Difference) trading in South Africa, it must be licensed to do so by the FSCA,” it said in a statement.
BUT WHY THE WARNING FOR SOUTH AFRICANS?
It furthermore said ByBit is not authorised to trade in CFDs or to provide financial advisory and intermediary services in South Africa.
“Following communication between ByBit and the FSCA, ByBit have indicated their willingness to apply for authorisation to provide financial advisory and intermediary services in South Africa.
“The public is urged to be cautious when dealing with ByBit until they have applied for and received authorisation from the FSCA.”
REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING WHEN TRADING CRYPTOCURRENCY
Members of the public should always check that an entity or individual is registered with the FSCA to provide financial advisory & intermediary services and what category of advice it is that the entity is registered to provide.
FSCA said there are instances where persons are registered to provide basic advisory services for a low-risk product and then offer services of a far more complex and risky nature.