French financial regulators have added a new batch of related websites to their blacklist as they continue to identify illegal participants in the forex and cryptocurrency markets.
On December 21, the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) and the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), France’s stock market regulators, updated a blacklist of websites associated with illegal forex and cryptocurrency investments.
Only two of the 15 newly blacklisted websites explicitly reference cryptocurrencies in their names. These websites include cryptoneyx.io and 24cryptoforextrading.net.
The announcement claims that year over year, the AMF and ACPR have flagged significantly fewer websites related to cryptocurrencies. Two websites in the category of crypto derivatives were blacklisted by the authorities in 2022, compared to 24 sites the previous year.
As opposed to 61 such websites in 2021, the regulators added a total of 49 names to the list of websites that are not permitted to offer forex investments.
Investors are urged by the AMF and ACPR to exercise caution and confirm the legitimacy of intermediaries offering financial products or services in France. Investors should consult the official register of authorised investment service providers and the list of authorised intermediaries in the crowdfunding or financial investment adviser categories, according to the regulators.
According to reports, the ongoing cryptocurrency winter will likely result in a sharp decline in the number of websites related to cryptocurrencies that the AMF will flag in 2022. Since November 2021, the market for cryptocurrencies has decreased by more than 70%, resulting in enormous losses for cryptocurrency investors.
As was previously mentioned, the French government is well known for its cordial attitude toward the digital asset sector and has granted numerous approvals to significant international cryptocurrency firms. Major international cryptocurrency exchange Binance received authorization from the AMF to offer services relating to cryptocurrencies in France in May.