Share this article
New Zealand's Financial Watchdog Warns on Crypto Investment Risks
The warning comes a day after the regulator's U.K. counterpart, the Financial Conduct Authority, also raised similar concerns.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 10:54 a.m. Published Jan 12, 2021, 11:00 a.m.
New Zealand's financial watchdog sounded a warning whistle to cryptocurrency investors after bitcoin's latest price drop.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
According to a report on Tuesday by the NZ Herald, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) said New Zealanders who were considering purchasing cryptocurrencies need to be aware they are "high risk and highly volatile" assets.
"Cryptocurrencies are not regulated in New Zealand and are often exploited by scammers and hackers," an FMA spokesperson told the Herald.
The warning comes a day after the regulator's U.K. counterpart, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), also raised similar concerns. The FCA said people should be prepared to lose "all their money" if they choose to invest in crypto products promising high yields.
"The FMA shares the FCA's concerns that some crypto exchanges are promising high returns and customers should be prepared to lose all of their money," said the spokesperson.
See also: UK’s FCA Warns Investors of High-Risk Crypto Investments and Scams
Overseas cryptocurrency exchanges are "unregulated" and operate solely online, making it harder to track the operators, the watchdog cautioned. Users should check if an exchange holds New Zealand dollars in a trust account, they said.
Beginning Dec. 1, the price of bitcoin rose 124% from around $18,770 to record highs near $42,000 on Friday. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has dropped 18% since Sunday and is currently changing hands for around $35,150.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
U.S. Senate's Crypto Market Structure Bill Gets Messy as Calendar Weighs Down
The White House has shut down proposals, and lawmakers are circulating the Democrats' asks in what had been a close negotiation, revealing 11th-hour pressure.
What to know:
- Democrats shared a response to Republicans outlining their continuing priorities for a crypto market structure bill, which they said was intended to "reach an agreement and proceed towards a mark-up."
- The document laid out concerns with financial stability, market integrity and public officials' ability to trade and profit off of crypto, echoing concerns laid out in a framework Democrats shared in September.
- The Senate is running out of time in the Congressional calendar to hold a markup hearing — a key step toward progressing the bill — before 2025 ends.
Top Stories
