The search for a Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange that disappeared along with $57 million leads to a vacant office in a strip mall – DL News

BitForex's registered office is located in Kai Fong, New Territories, northern Hong Kong.

Usually this isn't shocking information. However, BitForex, an online cryptocurrency exchange, withdrew approximately $57 million from hot wallets on February 23 and disappeared. It then blocked users from accessing their accounts.

That is correct. Another phantom Hong Kong virtual currency exchange has emerged.

fraud syndicate

Just months after JPEX's mysterious owners walked away with around $200 million in customer assets, this latest episode highlights just how big of a problem Hong Kong has when it comes to suspicious crypto players.

The city has long been a hub for Bitcoin over-the-counter retail, but now a new problem could be added to its image problem. And the soaring price of Bitcoin has officials worried that a cryptocurrency “scam syndicate” is just getting started.

Despite the regulatory crackdown, BitForex was not among the 14 companies on the Securities and Futures Commission's list of alert platforms.

Since LinkedIn claimed to have 6 million users and between 51 and 200 employees, I started looking for the office where BitForex was supposed to be based, an actual physical office. .

The company was founded in 2018, according to the Hong Kong company registry.

BitForex says on its LinkedIn page that it is headquartered in the city and registered in the Seychelles, with teams in Germany, Estonia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and elsewhere.

Given that, you'd think, as is typical for crypto companies, the company would have an office on a floor or two of a swanky downtown skyscraper, or in the tech hub of Cyberport or Science Park.

That's wrong.

Kwai Fong is primarily a residential area and is named after the Kwai Fong housing complex. Around the corner from the subway station is Dalin Pai Industrial District, and his two addresses there are linked to his BitForex.

It's 40 minutes from downtown to almost the end of the Tsuen Wan subway line.

Very little information was available on this trip. The company primarily provided virtual addresses to mainland Chinese companies looking to set up offices in Hong Kong, according to employees who worked there. The site listed addresses for thousands of businesses.

He could not provide further information regarding BitForex. But I had another lead.

BitForex also listed a company secretary for another office in the immediate vicinity.

This address was listed as Apartment D/3 on the second floor of another industrial park, but it did not appear to exist between Apartments D/2 and D/5. (Addresses containing the number 4 are considered unlucky in Hong Kong and are often skipped.)

However, D/5 had business consulting services.

The final address linked to BitForex is located in Mongkok, a popular tourist destination filled with shops and markets. This particular high-rise building was located above a strip mall, with a phone shop and equipment sales downstairs and quiet offices upstairs.

This address was also listed in a press release issued by the company. Neighbors say the office's current occupant is on vacation.

Multiple companies at one address

Letters and packages left outside were addressed to several different companies, suggesting they may also function as a virtual address service. In fact, a Google search showed multiple businesses using the same address.

At all three addresses, neighbors did not recognize the name BitForex or its CEO Jason Luo.

Luo said in a Jan. 31 blog post that he has decided to step down from his position and that a new leadership team is ready to take the helm.

Nevertheless, Mr. Luo remains the company's sole shareholder and director, according to the company's business report.

His address is recorded as being in Shenzhen, a city in mainland China adjacent to Hong Kong.

Callan Quinn is DL News” Asia correspondent based in Hong Kong.contact address callan@dlnews.com.