The government of Belgium recently warned its citizens about 99 different cryptocurrency scam sites that have been stealing money from unsuspecting investors. Many of the sites run the same simple scam where they pretend to sell cryptocurrency, when in reality they just take payments and give nothing back in return.
The Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has issued numerous warnings this year and is continually adding scam sites and suspect brokers to various public watch lists.
Regulatory Environment
While these lists are extremely helpful for potential investors, it is important to note that Belgian regulators have been extremely adversarial toward cryptocurrency over the years. As with many jurisdictions around the globe, the regulatory framework that crypto will take in Belgium is still very unclear, but the country’s government has taken steps to indicate that they will do what they can to discourage the use of crypto within their borders.
Last year, Koen Geens, the Minister of Justice of Belgium formally proposed that the government restrict the use of cryptocurrency, even to the point of confiscating crypto holdings.
Despite the uncertain regulatory climate, cryptocurrency adoption is still growing in the region. Earlier this year, Data released by Statista showed that Antwerp, the second largest city in Belgium, now has three crypto ATMs.
Crypto scams and security remain a serious concern for the industry. Earlier this month, CryptoGlobe reported that popular YouTube stars, the Hodgetwins, who have a following of over 4 million subscribers, recently revealed that they had thousands of dollars worth of EOS stolen from them through a malicious wallet that they downloaded from the App Store.Save
