Australia’s Federal Court has ordered financial services company BPS Financial Pty Ltd to pay 14 million Australian dollars ($9.3 million) in penalties for operating an unlicensed financial services business and making misleading claims about its Qoin Wallet product.
The ruling follows years of legal action brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the country’s financial regulator. The court found that between January 2020 and mid-2023, BPS promoted and operated the Qoin Wallet without holding an Australian Financial Services Licence, breaching the Corporations Act.
The penalty breaks down into two components: $1.3 million for unlicensed conduct and $8 million for misleading and deceptive representations. In her judgment, Judge Downes described BPS’s actions as “serious and unlawful misconduct” involving senior management and inadequate compliance systems.
BPS had promoted the Qoin Wallet as a non-cash payment facility tied to its Qoin digital token. However, the court found the company made false statements about the product’s regulatory status, claiming it was officially approved or registered when it was not.
“Given the nature of these products, providers must have the appropriate licenses and authorisations, and investors must be able to make decisions based on clear and correct statements, especially as crypto products can be highly volatile, inherently risky and complex,” ASIC Chair Joe Longo said in a Tuesday statement.
The court also found that BPS made misleading claims that Qoin tokens could be readily exchanged for fiat currency or other crypto-assets and that the token was widely accepted by merchants. Neither claim was substantiated.
Beyond the financial penalty, the court imposed strict restrictions on BPS. The company is barred from operating a financial services business without a licence for the next 10 years. BPS must also publish court-mandated publicity notices on the Qoin Wallet app and website and cover most of ASIC’s legal costs.
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ASIC launched civil penalty proceedings against BPS Financial in 2022. Earlier judgments handed down in 2024 and upheld on appeal in 2025 established that BPS engaged in the misleading and deceptive conduct outlined in the case.
The enforcement action underscores regulators’ increasing focus on unlicensed cryptocurrency and fintech operators making false claims to consumers. In December, ASIC finalized new exemptions to simplify the distribution of stablecoins and wrapped tokens, removing the need for intermediaries to hold separate Australian Financial Services licenses in certain circumstances.
ASIC has flagged digital asset and fintech regulatory gaps as a key risk area for 2026, alongside concerns about retail exposure to opaque private credit and high-risk investment sales.
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