Yet another broker goes offshore. Or, is turning to crypto.
Retail FX and CFD broker Invest.com has posted a notice on its site (see full text below) that its parent company GS Sharestocks Ltd has decided to renounce its CySEC CIF license, and has halted all regulated services as of earlier this week, April 9.
As of April 9, Invest.com said that its site has been blocked for new registrations and deposits. Existing clients with open positions will be asked to close their open trades by April 23. On April 23, all accounts will be suspended for all activity with the exception of withdrawal requests. On July 31, Invest.com will proceed to close all accounts, with any unclaimed funds deposited with a third party fiduciary.
The changes also apply to GS Sharestocks’ other brand, copy trading focused site GetStocks.
Invest.com and GS Sharestocks had been at some point a consolidator of brands looking to exit the regulated broker business, acquiring the Anyoption.com binary options brand last summer, as was exclusively reported at the time by LeapRate. Anyoption operated under a separate CySEC CIF license brand, Ouroboros Derivatives Trading Ltd, and that license was also eventually renounced.
While obviously operating a very (potentially) valuable url – by comparison, the investing.com url was sold for $2.45 million back in 2012 – Invest.com has seen its traffic fall off lately.
Industry sources have indicated to LeapRate that the team behind Invest.com has been more focused lately in the blockchain and crypto space. Invest.com founder Ophir Gertner has set up blockchain solutions company Smartlogic.io, and is also involved with blockchain prediction markets platform Stox.com, which is run by former Invest.com COO Yossi Peretz who left Invest.com late last year. Former Invest.com CTO Amit Maor is now CTO of Stox.com. And, quite a number of other (now former) senior Invest.com people are also on board at Stox.com.
It remains to be seen what the company will do with the invest.com url. as noted above, it is worth potentially millions of dollars. Or, the owners may integrate it somehow with Stox.com, or another blockchain business, which is clearly the focus of the team.
The full statement issued by Invest.com reads as follows:
Dear Valued Client,
We would like to inform you that GS Sharestocks Limited (the “Company”) with CIF license 262/14, has decided under its own initiative to renounce its CIF authorisation and cease providing all investment and ancillary services as of April 9th 2018.
As of April 9th 2018, our site will be blocked for new registrations and deposits and our clients with open positions will be asked to close their open trades.
On April 23rd 2018, all accounts will be suspended for all activity with the exception of withdrawal requests.
Clients who have available funds in their accounts, are kindly requested to contact the Company by e-mail at [email protected] to facilitate withdrawal and return of their available balance. Withdrawals will be performed in accordance with Company’s Terms & Conditions.
On July 31st 2018, the Company will proceed to close ALL accounts and any unclaimed funds will be deposited with a third party fiduciary.
Should you require any further clarifications, kindly contact us at
[email protected].