The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has directed Lendingstar Malaysia Sdn Bhd to cease all its activities, pronto, effective today. The SC directive was initially issued on 23 July 2018 after an inquiry found that Lendingstar is not registered to operate a recognized market and is providing auto invest facilities without license or registration from the SC, as required under the securities law.
Crowdfund Insider reached out to LendingStar Founder and CEO Slava Artamonov for further comment. The company has not yet addressed the SC’s request on social media or on its website.
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To date, the SC has registered seven equity crowdfunding and six peer-to-peer platform operators –investors may access the full list of registered platform operators here. Registered crowdfunding platforms include Ata Plus, Crowdo Malaysia, Eureeca SEA, FBM Crowdtech, Funnel Technologies, Pitch Platforms and Propellar Crowdplus.
LendingStar Exchange (LSX), a company registered in Singapore but that operated in Malaysia had claimed to be the world’s first invoice trading platform based on Blockchain, came on the scene in 2017 and kicked off an ICO in October 2017. The LendingStar marketplace then expected to generate $5 million in purchased invoices during the year. That number was reportedly expected to jump in a big way to $150 million in 2018.