South Africa Urges Caution on Crypto Exchange FTX

South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) is warning cryptocurrency traders to be “cautious and vigilant” when using FTX Trading Ltd., which is among the fastest-growing crypto exchanges in the world.

As Bloomberg News reported Wednesday (Feb. 2), the financial watchdog issued two notices warning traders about dealing with FTX, as well as another trading platform, Seychelles-headquartered ByBit, saying neither company has permission to provide financial advice or intermediary services in South Africa.

The FSCA says ByBit has been offering people in South Africa access to is platform to trade in derivative instruments and that FTX could be doing the same. If FTX wants to offer contract for differences (CFD) trading in South Africa, “it must be licensed to do so by the regulator,” the authority said in a statement.

The Bloomberg report notes that the warning is coming at a time when South Africa is attempting to introduce regulations for the crypto industry in the wake of two billion-dollar bitcoin-related fraud cases.

Last year, South Africa — like many countries before and since — issued a similar warning on the crypto platform Binance, saying that the company was not permitted “to give any financial advice or render any intermediary services.”

Read more: Coachella, Crypto Exchange FTX Team to Offer NFT Passes

As for FTX, it’s had an otherwise auspicious start to 2022. On Tuesday (Feb. 1), the trading platform announced a partnership with the music festival Coachella to offer ten lifetime passes to the annual three-day concert in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The passes, set to go on sale Friday (Feb. 4), will allow entry to Coachella each year, as well as unlimited access to Coachella-produced virtual experiences.

See also: FTX Raises $400 Million

And last month, FTX raised $400 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its value to $32 billion. The company has said it plans to use the funds to add to its global expansion and obtain licenses in new markets.