In what is believed to be the biggest scam in the city-state of Hong Kong, the police have blocked assets linked to JPEX worth $29.37 million.
In connection with the HK$1.6 billion JPEX cryptocurrency incident, which rocked the city-state, officials in Hong Kong have detained more than 70 people.
Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee said in his recent report that assets worth roughly $29.37 million (or around HK$230 million) had been frozen.
Approximately HK$228 million is now frozen, and Siu informed the legislative body that the number of arrests related to the issue has increased to 72.
Also shared with the parliamentarians was the information that the police had received 2,636 reports related to the issue, totaling around HK$1.6 billion. Among the previously imprisoned persons were prominent figures in the social media sphere, such as Chan Wing-yee, Joseph Lam Chok, and Sheena Leung. These individuals had advertised the trading platform and even set up their own over-the-counter stores.
The number of investment scams reported by the police in the last year exceeded 5,330, with losses surpassing 5,93 billion Hong Kong won, according to Siu, who was responding to the question of legislator Johnny Ng Kit-chong. These scams occurred both online and offline. Nearly 3.16 billion Hong Kong won was involved in 2,342 of these instances involving cryptocurrencies.
One of the biggest Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchanges, JPEX, went down in 2023 after charges of running a Ponzi scheme and laundering money came to light. After that, the authorities detained a number of people associated with JPEX.
Consequently, crypto exchanges based in Hong Kong are now subject to stricter regulations. Following the announcement that it had ceased accepting license applications, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) gave firms associated with cryptocurrency until February 29th to submit their applications for the Virtual Asset Trading Platform (VATP) license. It was mandatory for those platforms that did not comply to shut down their local operations.
A number of participants withdrew before the due date. Justin Sun’s HTX and Binance-linked HKVAEX were among them.
Regardless, Hong Kong is determined to establish itself as a leading Asian center and has retained its reputation as a crypto-friendly region. In April, regulators in Hong Kong even greenlit the first group of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that would invest in spot cryptocurrencies.
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