Kudona 3.8% savings Interest ??

Scottex99

jimjames said:

kudona said:

We genuinely believe in what we are building at Kudona and that a lot of people can benefit from it. If you have any questions or feedback please feel free to contact us directly. We’ll continue to be as transparent as possible

If you really are trying to be transparent then you should get authorised by the FCA. Their reply today confirms that you are not authorised to operate in the UK and have all the hallmarks of a scam.

By the way why does your site make no mention of the risks involved?

He's just said they are going to add info to their FAQs etc.
Not being regulated by FCA doesn't make it a scam

Daliah

@kudona If you want to post on this forum as a company rep, you must have official permission from the owner of the website.

That aside, I completely agree with what @jimjames says above. I am also taken aback by the utterly misleading claim on your website that people's deposits are secured up to CHF 100,000 when this is blatantly untrue.



Worse still, your website claims you are licensed in Lithuania. This also blatantly untrue, as has been confirmed to me by the Bank of Lithuania, the financial licensing authority in Lithuania, today.



Now, you may have a bit of a rogue website Manager but it's really bad that your public image is damaged before you even launched your product.

Daliah

Kudona presence on Twitter. "Growing your money securely".  How many people will naively think they get proper deposit protection?

dunstonh

Not being regulated by FCA doesn't make it a scam

True.  But there are activities in the UK that require regulation and authorisation by the FCA.    Pooled investments aimed at retail consumers is one of them.  The bottom line is that carrying out activities in the UK that require FCA authorisation whilst not having FCA authorisation is effectively being scammed.

cx6

I would also point out that although that post appears to be from the company, anyone could have posted that.

masonic

Daliah said:

Kudona presence on Twitter. "Growing your money securely".  How many people will naively think they get proper deposit protection?

when

Indeed. Use of the word "savings" in promotions referring to investments where capital is at risk is a big no-no. This ad and any like it anyone comes across should be reported to the ASA and FCA. If this company wishes to operate legitimately in the UK, it ought to focus its attention on compliance with UK legislation and regulation. Currently it appears to be operating unlawfully.

cx6 said:

I would also point out that although that post appears to be from the company, anyone could have posted that.

Which is why we report such posts (have done so, I'm probably not the first).

TheWoodler

Nothing about them in the main fintech press that I follow, e.g. altfi 

jimjames

Scottex99 said:

jimjames said:

[DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

If you really are trying to be transparent then you should get authorised by the FCA. Their reply today confirms that you are not authorised to operate in the UK and have all the hallmarks of a scam.

By the way why does your site make no mention of the risks involved?

He's just said they are going to add info to their FAQs etc.
Not being regulated by FCA doesn't make it a scam

For reference this is the reply from the FCA. I think it's safer to take the response of the FCA (admittedly one of their agents) rather than some random posting on the internet as to the validity or otherwise of an unauthorised investment.

Thank you for your webform. I understand you're raising concerns about a firm you've seen advertising on Facebook that is not authorised. I’m pleased you’ve got in touch about this as I am concerned that this is a scam.
 
Kudona - Is not authorised by the FCA 
 
I’ve searched our Financial Services Register, which is a public database of all the firms we authorise for Kudona and I can confirm that they are not authorised by the FCA.
 
This sounds like a scam
 
From the information you have provided to us about this situation, and that the firm are not authorised by the FCA this has all the hallmarks of a scam. If you do invest money with an unauthorised firm, this could be a scam and if anything went wrong you wouldn’t have any protection in place.
 

masonic

While I can understand the position the FCA agent has taken, there is a bit more nuance than that. I suppose for brevity, scam is a lot simpler than 'unregulated investment with 100% loss potential'. It may or may not be a scam, but it probably isn't helpful to split hairs when people are potentially being lured in thinking it is a savings account.

Scottex99

jimjames said:

Scottex99 said:

jimjames said:

kudona said:

We genuinely believe in what we are building at Kudona and that a lot of people can benefit from it. If you have any questions or feedback please feel free to contact us directly. We’ll continue to be as transparent as possible

If you really are trying to be transparent then you should get authorised by the FCA. Their reply today confirms that you are not authorised to operate in the UK and have all the hallmarks of a scam.

By the way why does your site make no mention of the risks involved?

He's just said they are going to add info to their FAQs etc.
Not being regulated by FCA doesn't make it a scam

For reference this is the reply from the FCA. I think it's safer to take the response of the FCA (admittedly one of their agents) rather than some random posting on the internet as to the validity or otherwise of an unauthorised investment.

Thank you for your webform. I understand you're raising concerns about a firm you've seen advertising on Facebook that is not authorised. I’m pleased you’ve got in touch about this as I am concerned that this is a scam.
 
Kudona - Is not authorised by the FCA 
 
I’ve searched our Financial Services Register, which is a public database of all the firms we authorise for Kudona and I can confirm that they are not authorised by the FCA.
 
This sounds like a scam
 
From the information you have provided to us about this situation, and that the firm are not authorised by the FCA this has all the hallmarks of a scam. If you do invest money with an unauthorised firm, this could be a scam and if anything went wrong you wouldn’t have any protection in place.
 

Lol what? Some customer service guy from the FCA is able to just call scam like that?

I understand to have UK clients they need to be authorised etc and there won't be deposit protection if they are using stables in the background to generate yield. But none of that makes it a scam.

Fireblocks costs c.3-4k monthly. I know because we use them.

I'm also personally making 10-20% APY on my stablecoins and have been for over a year. 

So yes, its unregulated and they probably shouldn't be pitching to the UK market. But outright scam? No.