Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has updated its crypto blacklist.

According to an official statement made today, the government body has added seven crypto trading platforms to it.

Crypto Blacklist

The crypto blacklist is comprised of websites and/or platforms associated with fraud or that show signs of fraudulent behavior. Effectively, these websites are known to scam investors or seem suspicious.

The previous crypto blacklist was released in December 2018 and listed a total of 113 websites. Now, that list has grown to 120.

Vigilance

Despite the availability of the list and the continued efforts to warn investors against fraudulent sites, the financial authority said that it continues to receive complaints from traders who invested cryptocurrencies on fraudulent sites.

Further, the authority warned that the crypto blacklist is comprised of websites that it is aware of or that have been reported. It does not contain every possible scam out there as, most likely, many more are yet to be uncovered. As such, investors should reference the list but always remain vigilant.

“The regulator warned that the blacklist does not include all the companies that might be operating illegally in Belgium in the crypto industry.”

Risks of Crypto Investing

According to the Belgian financial authority FPS Economy, a study showed that in 2017, Belgian investors lost approximately $2.5 million USD to crypto scams. This equates to 4% of the total amount lost to crypto fraud cases with estimations nearing $152 million USD. Figures such as this highlight the importance of careful trading.

>> Blockchain and Its Impact on Communications and Beyond

To help combat the issue, the European Union launched the International Association of Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA) in Brussels, Belgium. With more than 100 member companies signing the charter, INATBA aims to bring together all areas of industry, from startups to big enterprises, to regulators, to bring blockchain and distributed ledger technology into the mainstream.

The group places an emphasis on trusting each other in business. European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, said the following:

“In today’s economy, there is less and less time to build trust in the way it happened in the past. To fight cancer, to balance renewable energy, to trace the authenticity of goods, actors must be able to trust one another without meeting face-to-face. And how can we achieve this? Of course, with the help of blockchain.”

Be careful trading out there. There is a crypto blacklist, and it’s been made for a reason!