Luxembourg Regulators Issue Investor Warning Against OneCoin Scheme

Regulators in Luxembourg have published a terse warning for investors about OneCoin, the digital currency investment scheme widely accused of being fraudulent.

In an August 23 statement, the Commision de Surveillance du Secteur Financer (CSSF), the entity responsible for the country's financial regulation, released a one-sentence warning that entities promoting OneCoin were not "supervised" by the agency.

The regulator said:

"The CSSF warns the public that the entity named Onecoin Ltd, also present on social media under the name Onecoin Luxembourg, is not supervised by the CSSF."

The wording mirrors warnings issued by other financial regulators who have said the OneCoin scheme lacks approval (despite claims to the contrary in at least one country).

Local news source Paperjam.lu reported that in response to the statement by the CSSF, OneCoin's press service said "the company OneCoin has never been formally contacted by the CSSF and therefore we do not see a reasonable motivation for this warning."

Other countries, including Germany, Finland and India, have moved to investigate or arrest promoters, or effectively outlaw the scheme entirely. OneCoin was recently found to be operating a pyramid scheme and fined 2.59 million euros by the Italian Antitrust Authority (IAA), a quasi-governmental consumer watchdog.

Luxembourg statue image via Shutterstock