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Qoin ‘cost token holders millions of dollars in losses’: Salerno Law
Following the launch of a class action against Qoin, Salerno Law has called the alleged conduct by the entities behind the utility coin “unconscionable”.
Lauren Croft
Earlier this month, Salerno Law launched a class action against Qoin on behalf of shareholders, who are alleged to have lost millions after being unable to use or exchange the coin.
Salerno Law managing partner Cliff Savala said that this class action has been “brought to hold the entities behind Qoin responsible for the financial losses suffered as a result of their alleged misconduct”.
“It is alleged in the class action that the entities behind Qoin, including the BTX Exchange, engaged in unconscionable conduct through their actions in relation to the BTX Exchange, and also misleading or deceptive conduct as a result of the various representations made to induce consumers, merchants and investors into acquiring the Qoin token,” he said.
“This alleged conduct by Qoin has led to token holders, which include small businesses, sole traders, individuals and investors, being left without the free-market ability to exchange the token for fiat currency (cash) and also unable to utilise the token within the ecosystem as previously represented.
“This alleged conduct has ultimately cost token holders millions of dollars in losses as a result of exchanging goods and services or acquiring the token at a value set by Qoin which has no substantive basis and breaches both accepted cryptocurrency and financial services norms.”
The issuer of the token, BPS Financial, is alleged to have breached sections of the Corporations Act 2001, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act 2001, and the Australian Consumer Law (contained within the Competition and Consumer Act 2010).
This follows the news that there were a “record” number of class action lawsuits filed in the last financial year, before two potential class actions were launched against Beach Energy, tech company Nuix and Queensland superfund QSuper this month, as well as a2 milk being hit with two class actions in October and the announcement of a landmark climate change class action against the Australian government after a new report showed that climate and cyber class actions would continue to rise.
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
