New Set of Unregulated Brokers listed in CONSOB Warning

The Italian Regulator alerted the investors against dealing with 100XFX, Centro Banc and Capital Markets Banc

18 June 2018 1112

On Monday, The Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB) and the Italian regulatory published another list of unregulated FX companies suggesting illicit services to Italians. Unlike the general unregulated brokers, whose websites resemble Windows 95 clip-art, the companies CONSOB alerted users against today are processing fairly slick websites. This is worrying given that a more professional looking website is more likely to fool inexperienced investors into passing their means over to the shady figures running unregulated brokers.

The first broker CONSOB informed the users about today is Capital Markets Banc. The organization is aimed to have offices in Dominica and Bulgaria but it is not clear as to whether they have any factual presence in either country. Outside of the site itself, users report, that the site is a scam operation, with clients complaining that they cannot withdraw their funds from their site accounts.

The next exchange included in the list is 100XFX. Built in that hub of commercial activity, St Vincent and the Grenadines, the company declares that it applies Barclays, HSBC and CitiBank as liquidity providers. Although also listing a phone number in the UK, the organization appears to be Russian in origin. Referring CONSOB’s warning, and a litany of negative reviews, this author recommends against doing any business with 100XFX.

The owners of Capital Markets Banc are actually operating another site that CONSOB warned about today - Centro Banc. Conducting out of Liechtenstein, the firm proposes almost the same services as Capital Markets Banc. Considering that it is exactly the same people processing the site, there seems to be no reason that this site is registered.

It is really important for regulators today to stay on top and alert investors against trading with such firms. These organizations tarnish the reputation of an industry that is currently observed with suspicion, or even disdain, by many people.

Exchanges Blockchain

Fake Trading Share to Reach 68%, - FTX Global

This figure, however, is significantly lower than what Bitwise's report and the discrepancy is explained by the difference in methodology

04 July 2019 1041

The exchange of derivatives FTX Global and Alameda Research conducted a study that estimated the volumes of fictitious transactions (wash trades), presumably prevailing in many cryptocurrency exchanges.

The report says that 68.6% of trading volumes displayed by CoinMarketCap are fake. This figure, however, is significantly lower than what Bitwise Asset Management announced in March.

The discrepancy between the results in almost 30% of the authors of the new study is explained by the difference in methodology. So, FTX Global is sure that Bitwise used an too strict approach to data analysis, which is why a significant proportion of real trading volumes fell into the category of fake ones.

While our methods are not foolproof, we believe they paint the most accurate picture of the true nature of cryptocurrency trading volume that anyone has made publicly available as of yet.

FTX Global Team

The Alameda methodology involves verifying the authenticity of data on trading volumes on various exchanges based on six different parameters, including manual verification of information and comparison of order books.

FTX Global Website

In particular, the experts found out that some sites provided data on the volumes of foreign exchanges for their own, with a slight delay in time. Other platforms used more advanced techniques - for example, they introduced large fake volumes only against the background of many smaller orders, thus trying to hide the true state of affairs.

The main purpose of these tactics is to raise the platform higher in the CoinMarketCap rating, creating a false impression of its liquidity. It also sometimes allows for the ability to charge a higher listing fee.