Advertencias de reguladores y sanciones

Finantsinspektsioon (Estonia) — On 27 April 2026 the Estonian regulator withdrew Admiral Markets AS's investment-firm licence at the company's own request; Estonian and other EU clients are now served by Admirals Europe Ltd in Cyprus.

CySEC — In February 2026 CySEC reached a EUR 100,000 settlement with First Prudential Markets Ltd over possible breaches of the CFD product-intervention restrictions (Article 42 of Regulation (EU) 600/2014 and Directive DI87-09) between March 2022 and August 2025.

FCA (UK) — On 11 October 2024 the FCA listed FP Markets (www.fpmarkets.com) as a firm not authorised in the UK that may be providing or promoting financial services to UK consumers, who would have no Financial Ombudsman or FSCS protection.

KNF (Poland) — The KNF imposed a PLN 20 million penalty on XTB S.A. in April 2026 for MiFID II breaches in client onboarding and CFD appropriateness assessments during 2022-2023.

KNF (Poland) — XTB S.A. was fined around PLN 9.9 million (about $2.2 million) for irregularities in the execution of client orders, a penalty later upheld by Polish courts.

SEC — The SEC's 2023 lawsuit alleging Coinbase operated as an unregistered broker, exchange, and clearing agency was voluntarily dismissed by the agency in February 2025, with no penalty imposed.

FCA — The FCA fined Coinbase's UK branch £3.5 million for breaching a voluntary agreement restricting onboarding of high-risk customers.

NYDFS — Coinbase paid a $50 million penalty and committed a further $50 million to its compliance program after NYDFS found anti-money-laundering program failures, including a large backlog of unprocessed transaction-monitoring alerts.

DNB — The Dutch central bank (De Nederlandsche Bank) fined Coinbase €3.3 million for offering crypto services in the Netherlands before obtaining the required registration.

CFTC — Coinbase paid a $6.5 million civil penalty to settle CFTC charges of reckless false and misleading reporting and wash trading carried out via two automated trading programs between 2015 and 2018.

FSC (Anguilla) — The Anguilla Financial Services Commission published an investor alert on 15 May 2025 stating that Notesco Int Limited, trading as IronFX, is not and has never been licensed there to carry on financial services business.

CySEC — CySEC reached a EUR 100,000 settlement with Notesco Financial Services Ltd over possible breaches of the MiFIR restrictions on the marketing, distribution and sale of CFDs to retail clients.

BCSC (British Columbia) — The British Columbia Securities Commission added Notesco Limited dba IronFX to its investment caution list, stating the firm is not registered to trade in or advise on securities or exchange contracts in British Columbia.

CySEC — CySEC closed a year-long investigation into hundreds of client complaints about blocked withdrawals with a EUR 335,000 settlement covering client protection, control mechanisms, risk management, outsourcing and corporate governance failings.

US Department of Justice / FinCEN — KuCoin pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and failing to register with FinCEN, paying over $297 million and agreeing to exit the US market for at least two years.

US Department of Justice — OKX's operating entity pled guilty to running an unlicensed money-transmitting business that served US customers, paying over $504 million in fines and forfeiture and accepting a multi-year compliance monitor.

Nigeria SEC / federal authorities — Nigerian authorities detained two Binance executives and pursued tax and currency-manipulation cases; Binance disabled naira services and litigation, including an $81.5 billion damages claim, was ongoing in 2026.

Philippines SEC — The Philippine SEC asked the National Telecommunications Commission to block public access to Binance's website over unlicensed operations.

FINTRAC (Canada) — FINTRAC imposed a C$6,002,000 penalty on Binance Holdings Limited for failing to register as a foreign money services business and failing to report 5,902 large virtual-currency transactions; Binance appealed.

Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission — The SEC stated that Binance Nigeria Limited is neither registered nor regulated by the Commission and that its operations in Nigeria are illegal.

Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission — The SEC warned the public against investing through Binance for operating without the required licences, ahead of blocking site access in 2024.

US Department of Justice / FinCEN / OFAC — Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations, paying over $4.3 billion in combined penalties.

US Commodity Futures Trading Commission — Binance was ordered to pay $1.35 billion in disgorgement and a $1.35 billion penalty, and Zhao a $150 million penalty, for offering unregistered derivatives to US persons and wilful non-compliance.

US Securities and Exchange Commission — The SEC sued Binance and Zhao in June 2023 for operating unregistered exchanges and misleading investors; the case was dismissed with prejudice on 29 May 2025.

De Nederlandsche Bank (Netherlands) — The Dutch central bank fined Binance Holdings Ltd. €3.325 million for offering crypto services without the required registration; Binance exited the Dutch market in 2023.

UK Financial Conduct Authority — The FCA ordered Binance Markets Limited to stop all regulated activity in the UK; the entity's permissions were cancelled in May 2023 and no Binance Group company holds UK authorisation.

Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) — Issued written warnings to Bitget Limited on 31 March 2023 and again on 28 November 2024 for operating a crypto-asset exchange business for Japanese residents without registration.

Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission — Named Bybit among unlicensed virtual asset trading platforms soliciting Hong Kong investors without local authorisation.

Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) — Issued written warnings to Bybit Fintech Limited on 31 March 2023 and 28 November 2024 for running a crypto-asset exchange business for Japanese residents without registration.

Securities Commission Malaysia — Declared Bybit an unauthorised digital asset exchange and directed it to cease providing services to Malaysian residents.

Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission — Filed a complaint against Bybit for operating a digital asset exchange business in Thailand without a local licence.

Ontario Securities Commission (Canada) — Listed Bybit among offshore platforms not registered to serve Ontario residents as part of a broader crackdown on unregistered crypto exchanges.

SEC — eToro USA llegó a un acuerdo con la SEC por cargos relacionados con operar como corredor y agencia de compensación no registrados para la operativa de criptoactivos, aceptando limitar su oferta minorista de cripto en EE. UU. a Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash y Ether.

CONSOB (Italy) — El regulador de valores de Italia multó a eToro por un marketing que describía la operativa como libre de comisiones sin divulgar adecuadamente los spreads y otros cargos.

ASIC — ASIC inició un proceso de sanción civil alegando que el producto CFD de eToro se distribuyó a clientes minoristas fuera de su mercado objetivo adecuado, afectando a alrededor de 20,000 clientes australianos.

FMA (Austria) — The Austrian FMA warned on 13 March 2024 that Clavischain.com, a site presenting itself alongside gate.io, is not authorised to conduct licensable banking or investment business in Austria.

FCA — The FCA added IC Markets Global (icmarkets.com/global and ic.com) to its warning list as a firm that may be providing or promoting financial services in the UK without authorisation.

CySEC — CySEC fined IC Markets (EU) Ltd EUR 200,000 for participating in activities that circumvented the initial margin protection (leverage cap) rules for retail CFD clients, with EU clients routed to a group entity offering leverage up to 1:1000; the firm has sought judicial review.

CySEC — CySEC fined IC Markets (EU) Ltd EUR 50,000 for failing to take sufficient steps to obtain best execution for clients and for insufficient disclosure of costs and charges; the firm disputed the findings and sought judicial review.

FCA — The FCA warned about a clone firm using the IC Markets name and IC Markets (EU) Ltd's details via icmarketpro.com and icm-market.com; the warning concerns impostors, not IC Markets itself.

CONSOB — CONSOB ordered Italian ISPs to block icmarkets.com, operated by Raw Trading Ltd, for offering investment services to the Italian public without authorisation (resolution 21527 of 7 October 2020); the order did not cover the CySEC-authorised IC Markets (EU) Ltd.

ASIC (Federal Court of Australia) — Bit Trade Pty Ltd, Kraken's Australian operator, was ordered to pay A$8 million for issuing a margin/credit product to about 1,100 customers without complying with Australian credit and design-and-distribution rules.

SEC — Kraken settled SEC allegations that its US staking-as-a-service program was an unregistered securities offering, paying $30 million and shutting down US staking without admitting wrongdoing.

OFAC — Kraken self-reported and settled with OFAC for roughly $362,000 over apparent sanctions violations tied to Iran-based users, and committed additional funds to sanctions-compliance controls.

CFTC — Payward Ventures, Inc. (Kraken) paid a $1.25 million civil penalty for offering illegal off-exchange margined retail commodity transactions in digital assets and operating as an unregistered futures commission merchant.

SFC (Hong Kong) — The Securities and Futures Commission added mexc.com to its alert list of suspicious virtual asset trading platforms for targeting Hong Kong investors without a licence.

CONSOB — CONSOB ordered Italian internet providers to block vantage-markets.com and secure.vantage-markets.com, operated by Vantage Global Limited, for offering investment services to Italian residents without authorisation (resolution 23087 of 24 April 2024).

ASIC — ASIC accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Vantage Global Prime Pty Ltd after a senior employee used confidential client trading data for personal trading; Vantage had to appoint an independent compliance expert, retrain staff and pay a $95,000 community benefit payment.

CNMV (Spain) — Spain's securities regulator listed bingx.com as an entity not authorised to provide investment services in Spain (warning dated 20 February 2023).

New York Attorney General — CoinEx settled with the NYAG for $1.8 million, agreeing to permanently exclude US customers and exit New York after previously operating without proper registration there.

CFTC — iFinex, BFXNA and BFXWW were ordered to pay $1.5 million for illegal off-exchange retail commodity transactions with US customers and for violating the 2016 order; affiliated Tether paid $41 million in the same action.

New York Attorney General — iFinex and Tether paid $18.5 million, agreed to stop trading with New York residents and to publish quarterly reserve disclosures, after the NYAG found Bitfinex had concealed roughly $850 million in losses and operated without a licence in New York.

CFTC — BFXNA Inc. (Bitfinex) paid a $75,000 civil penalty for offering illegal off-exchange financed retail commodity transactions in bitcoin and failing to register as a futures commission merchant.

FCA — The FCA warned that a clone firm calling itself 'Fx Pro' was using a UK mobile number and email to impersonate FxPro UK Limited (FRN 509956); the genuine broker was not the subject of the warning.

FCA — The FCA warned that 'FX Pro Europe' (fxproeurope.com) was a clone firm impersonating the authorised FxPro Financial Services Limited; the genuine broker was not the subject of the warning.

FSMA (Belgium) — Plus500 paid a €550,000 settlement to Belgium's FSMA for offering CFDs without a required prospectus and failing to submit adverts for regulator approval.

FCA (UK) — The FCA ordered a temporary freeze on UK client accounts as part of an anti-money-laundering review, triggering a sharp drop in Plus500's share price.

FCA (UK) — Plus500UK Ltd was fined £205,128 for inaccurate transaction reporting covering over 1.3 million transactions between June 2010 and November 2011.

CySEC — CySEC imposed a €105,000 administrative fine on HF Markets (Europe) Ltd for breaches of the Investment Services Law and related directives, including record-keeping, oversight of outsourced client support and risk disclosures.

Financial Ombudsman Service (UK) — The Financial Ombudsman Service ordered IG to compensate customers around £1 million following losses linked to the January 2015 Swiss franc de-pegging event.