Australian Federal Court Rules Mostly in Favor of Regulator in Case Against BPS Financial

cryptonews.com:

The Australian Federal Court has delivered a ruling mostly  in favor of  Australia’s markets regulator in its case against BPS Financial Pty Ltd (BPS) over its Qoin scheme. 

On Friday, Judge J Downes concluded that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) succeeded in its Unlicensed Conduct Case against BPS, according to  court documents . 

However, the ruling excluded the period when BPS functioned as an authorized representative of PNI Financial Services Pty Ltd, which holds a non-cash payments license.

The authorized representation lasted for  a duration of  10 months, as stated by ASIC.

The legal dispute between ASIC and BPS dates back to 2022 when ASIC filed a lawsuit, seeking a court ruling that the entire Qoin project, including the token, blockchain, and wallet, constituted a financial product requiring a license.

ASIC’s argument included the allegation that the Qoin Blockchain and Qoin Wallets formed a single scheme. However, the court disagreed with this assertion. 

#Australian court rules against #Qoin issuer #BPS Financial on 4 charges :
Qoin still has a class-action suit pending against it in addition to the case brought by regulator #ASIC.

The Federal Court of Australia found that BPS made four false claims. Specifically, #BPS claimed… pic.twitter.com/aryu04l0e3

— TOBTC (@_TOBTC) May 4, 2024

In the court order,  it was  stated  that the Qoin Blockchain, the means of acquiring Qoin, and the registration process for business operators as Qoin Merchants were not components of the mechanism enabling non-cash payments.

Legal experts have highlighted the significance of the court’s rejection of ASIC’s attempt to classify an entire blockchain as a “financial product” under Australian law. 

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