Hong Kong Police Arrest 72 in Connection with JPEX Bitcoin Exchange

Hong Kong police have announced the arrest of 72 individuals as part of an investigation into fraud at the cryptocurrency exchange JPEX. This was reported by local media.

Authorities have also frozen assets amounting to 228 million HKD ($29.37 million).

In total, the police received 2636 reports from victims, with damages amounting to approximately 1.6 billion HKD (~$204.3 million).

The JPEX exchange became embroiled in scandal in September 2023 when the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission accused it of operating without a license. The platform was known to charge users exorbitant fees for asset withdrawals.

Among the first to be arrested were bloggers who appeared in JPEX advertisements and operated their own unlicensed exchanges.

Amid the liquidity crisis, the exchange suspended all operations in the JPEX Earn service.

In efforts to combat illicit commercial activities, Hong Kong police have repeatedly arrested individuals involved in illegal cryptocurrency operations.

In 2023, 2342 investment frauds linked to cryptocurrency amounted to about 3.16 billion HKD (~$403.5 million).

One of the targets of the investigation was the crypto trading platform Hounax, with damages of 120 million HKD ($15.4 million at the time).

Earlier, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority warned unlicensed crypto companies against describing their services as banking.