ASIC has commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against fintech company Block Earner alleging it provided unlicensed financial services in relation to its crypto-asset based products and that it operated an unregistered managed investment scheme.
Block Earner offered a range of fixed-yield earning products based on crypto-assets under the names USD Earner, Gold Earner and Crypto Earner.
ASIC alleges that the products were financial products that should have been licensed because the products were a managed investment scheme, a facility through which a person makes a financial investment, and/or a derivative.
ASIC is seeking declarations, injunctions, and pecuniary penalties from the Court and a date for the first case management hearing is yet to be scheduled.