Australian Financial Watchdog Bans Local BitConnect Promoter for 7 Years

An Australian man has received a seven-year ban by the country's financial watchdog for his involvement with BitConnect, an alleged Ponzi scheme.

As reported by the Financial Standard, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), New South Wales resident John Bigatton may not work in financial services for the multi-year period.
An investigation is still ongoing, per the report.
ASIC made the ruling after it was discovered Bigatton had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct in promoting BitConnect.
Bigatton was an Australian national representative of cryptocurrency platform BitConnect, as well as its investment scheme BitConnect Lending Platform, between 2017 and 2018.
Over that time, the watchdog alleges Bigatton provided unlicensed financial product advice that was deceptive, misleading or likely to mislead investors, regarding the BitConnect scheme.
ASIC found Bigatton not to be a "fit and proper person to provide financial services," "not adequately trained" and was "likely to contravene a financial services law."
Bigatton now has the right to appeal ASIC's decision at Australia's Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
BitConnect was a cryptocurrency investment scheme that encouraged investors to exchange bitcoin for its own BitConnect Coin (BCC) promising high-interest returns.
It has been alleged to be a fraud in various lawsuits.
In January 2018, the Texas State Securities Board ordered BitConnect to cancel another planned token sale, ruling the proposed token qualified as an unregistered security.
Weeks later, BCC's price collapsed amid news BitConnect's lending and exchange operation was shutting down.
That came after state regulators issued cease and desist orders over the scheme's failure to register its services and offerings under securities rules.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

01

23

41

30

Australian Financial Watchdog Bans Local BitConnect Promoter for 7 Years

The Australian man was banned from working in financial services by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

10 Years of Decentralizing the Future