The State Securities Commission (SSC) has warned about the risks arising from investing in financial technology (fintech).

In a notice issued on its website on Monday, SSC said that the market now had companies operating in fintech, including cryptocurrency, initial coin offering, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending and blockchain. These were new products that had not been regulated, SSC said, thus posing high risks.

SSC urged investors to be wary of investing in such products.

The commission also requested public companies operating in fintech to comply with the established law on initial offering and fund raising.

While waiting for the issuance of the legal framework to manage these new products, SSC asked securities companies not to provide services such as consultancy, brokerage, issuance and transaction of cryptocurrencies as well as other fintech products and to comply with the established laws on prevention of money laundering.

A few days ago, the Ministry of Justice also warned about cryptocurrencies.

Nguyen Hong Hai, deputy director of the ministry’s Department of Civil and Economic Laws, said that transactions in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were anonymous and could be a tool for criminal trading, such as money laundering.

Hai warned citizens to be cautious while trading in cryptocurrencies due to their high risk of being hacked and the lack of management regulations. — VNS