Ontario OSC Adds Status Markets to Its Warning List

According to a regulatory statement, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has added Status Markets to its list of companies not to do business with.

Status Markets is the latest entity to be added to the OSC warning list. Representatives of this company contacted Ontario residents by telephone, seeking investment funds to trade different asset classes through an online trading platform. However, this brand is not registered to sell securities in Ontario or anywhere else in Canada and has therefore failed to comply with provincial securities laws.

The brokerage appears to be registered in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, specifically in Ajeltake Island, Majuro, where several other offshore brokers have their registered offices. “Status Markets found at www.statusmarkets.com is not registered in Ontario to engage in the business of trading in securities,” the OSC noted in the warning.

Early this year, the OSC accused the cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex of breaking its securities law through its platform. The regulator argues that crypto asset products offered by the company are “securities and derivatives,” according to a statement of allegations published by the OSC.

Poloniex Tussles with Ontario

Poloniex, which operates under the name of Polo Digital Assets Ltd., is subject to Ontario securities law as their digital assets offerings are available to Ontario’s residents, said the regulator. Through the platform, people have been actively conducting deposit and trade operations in cryptocurrencies that fell under the securities and derivatives category granted by the OSC, the statement highlighted.

Although Poloniex is subject to the law of the Republic of Seychelles, the Canadian regulator pointed out that the crypto exchange has never been registered with the OSC to offer trading services in Ontario. Furthermore, the Commission accuses the crypto firm of not specifying Canada as one of its ‘Restricted Territories.’ That said, the OSC requested at that time that Poloniex cease its business “in any securities or derivatives.”

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