The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has issued a cease and desist order to the Karatbit Foundation to immediately stop and wind up the unauthorized business in Germany.
On November 11, according to an announcement, BaFin alleges that Karatbit Foundation is issuing the KaratGoldCoin (KBC) without the necessary license.
However, Karatbit describes itself as a provider of a blockchain-based payment system that enables users to conduct transactions with gold, as well as trade gold with cryptocurrencies. The company claims that over 500,000 acceptance points around the world and ten crypto exchanges support the trading of gold and gold products for KBC.
In the announcement, BaFin said that Karatbit conducted business in Germany without the necessary license. However, the regulator pointed out that although the order was effective immediately, it may still be subject to judicial review.
BaFin has issued a stop order to the Karatbit Foundation asking it to immediately stop its unauthorized electronic currency business in Germany.#currency — 海星区块 (@haixingblock) November 14, 2019
On November 13, it has been reported by The Guardian that the public prosecutor in Stuttgart had also initiated investigations into the company’s activities. In response to the allegations, Karatbars told that no investigations into KBC had begun and ensured that “no customer or partner has ever incurred losses due to Karatbars and its products.”
Further, Karatbars argued that those German customers holding KBC received it as “only a free bonus gift that came with other Karatbars products,” and BaFin’s ruling was based on a fake Karatbars website.
Likewise, to guarantee the stability of its tokens, Karatbars claims that it owns a share in a gold mine located in Madagascar that purportedly contains 900 million Euros ($990 million) worth of the precious metal.
<img src="https://www.cryptonewspoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/KaratGold-KBC-2-1.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-5148 lazyload" width="503" height="314" />
Moreover, Harald Seiz, the Founder of the company, said that the company had secured $100 million through sales of KBC.
In contradictory figures, the company specifically asserted in its white paper that “the gold mine in Madagascar having 900 billion Euros was bought.” Seiz also reportedly failed to prove his ownership of a stake in the gold mine.
It has also been analyzed that Karatbars used former football stars Lothar Matthäus, Roberto Carlos and Patrick Kluivert’s images without their permission to promote its products. Thus, Kluivert and Matthäus denied their relation to the project.
Source: bafin.de | karatgold-kbc.com | theguardian.com | cointelegraph.com
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