France’s financial markets watchdog, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), today shed light on an unregulated provider of training courses and software solutions for investing in the FX and cryptocurrency markets.
The newly-blacklisted firm operates under two brands, Kuvera LLC and Kuvera France; both are wholly owned subsidiaries of Investview. The regulator said they have been providing professional investment services to domestic clients without proper authorization, which is a criminal offence.
Investview was previously fined $150,000 by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) back in 2018. At the time, the US securities regulator said the company was illegally offering Forex and binary options to retail investors in the United States.
Finance Magnates spoke to Investview who said that they were unaware of the charges and denied ever supplying unregulated services or, as the AMF stated, working with people under the age of eighteen.
"Kuvera and Kuvera France markets education and research on world global financial markets in addition to personal financial management such as budgeting, reducing debt and increasing savings," said Annette Raynor, Investview's chief operating officer. "We do not trade for anyone. We provide information and the subscriber may act on that information but if they do they enter trade agreements with brokers they choose.
"We do not allow anyone under the age of 18 to subscribe, our median age demographic falls in the 25 to 40 year old range. We are organized to comply with all laws and Regulation of all countries at all times. If the AMF has found an infraction we need to address then we will do so immediately however we were unaware of the information released by the AMF on April 9th."
Cryptocurrency in France
The AMF also reminded investors of its previous warnings against transacting in Bitcoin or other crypto assets.
The regulator has been quite active in policing crypto activities, and in addition to such warnings, it has prohibited the advertising and distribution of cryptocurrency derivatives.
The well-known details about the full advertising ban on certain offerings are all in place, but the update adds that promoting cryptocurrency derivatives demands that brokers that are offering such products must comply with a set of regulations.
But earlier last year, the French government announced a tax reform plan, which reduces the tax rates on revenues generated by cryptocurrency transactions, and cut the high-band rate from 45 percent to 19 percent.
The stimulative effects of the tax cuts come as France changed the classification of bitcoin and its ilk, which currently fall into the “moveable property” category, meaning that it is subject the flat tax of 19 percent on capital gains. Before that, cryptocurrency gains were considered “industrial and commercial profits” while occasional transactions constituted as “non-commercial profits.”
