Yahoo Finance UK Court Orders Crypto Exchange to Shut Down After Clients Lose $2M
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.”
