BPS Financial ordered to pay $14m over crypto product
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The news: BPS Financial has been ordered to pay $14 million in pecuniary penalties by the Federal Court over its promotion and operation of its Qoin Wallet crypto product from January 2020 until mid-2023.
The context: In 2024 the Federal Court found BPS engaged in unlicensed conduct for almost three years through discussing and providing financial advice about Qoin Wallet. It also found BPS made several false and misleading representations about the product.
In 2025, the Full Federal Court found BPS engaged in unlicensed conduct over another 10-month period as the company would not rely on an authorised representative exemption when issuing Qoin.
In handing down her judgement, Justice Downes said the penalty of $12 million for misleading representations “properly reflects the mitigating factors while also accounting for the objective recklessness of the conduct, involvement of senior management, the serious and misleading nature of the representations, the characteristics of the target audience and BPS’s inadequate compliance systems”.
She noted the $2 million for unlicensed conduct was to deter BPS and the digital asset industry as a whole.
BPS will also be restrained for 10 years from carrying on a financial services business without holding an Australian financial services licence. ASIC first took BPS to court in October 2022.
The business will also pay most of the costs incurred by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for the proceeding.
What they said: “Given the nature of these products, providers must have the appropriate licenses and authorisations, and investors must be able to make decisions based on clear and correct statements, especially as crypto products can be highly volatile, inherently risky and complex,” ASIC chair Joe Longo said.
The source: ASIC
