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UK Court Orders Crypto Exchange to Shut Down After Clients Lose $2M

The U.K. is ordering GPay to shut down on allegations that 108 clients lost £1.5 million, or $2 million, through the crypto exchange.

By Paddy Baker
AccessTimeIconJul 1, 2020 at 1:43 p.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 8:58 a.m. UTC
Royal Courts of Justice, London, U.K.
Royal Courts of Justice, London, U.K.
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The U.K. High Court of Justice has ordered crypto exchange GPay to be "wound up in the public interest."

  • In a statement Tuesday, the U.K. government said 108 clients had lost a total of just under £1.5 million ($1.9 million) using GPay.
  • Although clients could deposit without completing know-your-customer (KYC) processes, GPay requested various identification documents to prevent clients from withdrawing funds.
  • GPay also sold clients insurance to protect them against trading losses, but the exchange did not always pay out.
  • GPay did not contest the dissolution order.
  • David Hill, of the U.K. Insolvency Service, said: "GPay persuaded customers to part with substantial sums of money to invest in cryptocurrency trading. This was nothing but a scam as GPay tricked their clients to use their online platform under false pretences."
  • The U.K.'s financial watchdog warned in May 2018 that GPay, then CryptoPoint, was offering financial services without its permission.
  • GPay faced its first dissolution order in November 2018, but this was discontinued in January 2019.
  • GPay advertised itself extensively on social media and claimed, falsely, to be backed by Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert, a popular consumer finance website in the U.K.
  • On the news, Lewis said: “I don’t know whether to dance a jig that these despicable scum have been shut down, or cry that they managed to take so many people’s money."

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