Australia’s Federal Court has fined crypto Qoin Wallet operator BPS Financial $14 million (US$9.9 million) after finding it misled consumers about whether its token could be spent at merchants or exchanged for cash and other digital assets.
The penalty was handed down on Monday after the court found in 2024 that BPS Financial promoted and operated Qoin Wallet without an Australian Financial Services Licence for almost three years.
The court also found that the company had “engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct” after making false representations about Qoin Wallet.
Qoin Wallet is a non-custodial digital assets app that allows users to store, send, and receive Qoin tokens. Designed for peer-to-peer transactions within a closed merchant ecosystem, it is aimed at small and medium-sized businesses in Australia.
In its whitepaper, Qoin presents its project as being run by the Cayman Islands-based Qoin Foundation and does not mention BPS Financial.
The document briefly cites a May 2024 ruling on the token’s legal status, which followed the regulator’s 2022 allegations that BPS operated Qoin as a financial services business without a licence and misled consumers about how the product worked.
This week’s penalties were split between unlicensed activity and misleading representations, with the court citing the seriousness of the misconduct, senior management involvement, and risks posed to consumers.
The large sum was also “intended to send a strong message of deterrence to the digital asset industry,” Australian Securities and Investment Commission Chair Joe Longo said in a statement.
It comes as Australian regulators continue to build out guidance on crypto oversight, with ASIC warning this week that digital asset firms and AI companies remain a priority risk area through 2026.
Qoin tokens were allegedly marketed as an alternative for everyday transactions, with BPS Financial promoting Qoin as usable across a network of participating merchants.
Those claims did not reflect reality, the court found, claiming that merchant acceptance for the token was limited and that consumers had no reliable way to convert Qoin tokens into Australian dollars or other crypto assets.
Local observers say the case sharpens the consumer risks around how crypto products are marketed in Australia.
“Marketing claims are not the same as consumer protections, so everyday users should […] treat performance-related promises as something to understand and verify before they rely on it,” Jonathan Inglis, CEO of Melbourne-based consumer research firm Protocol Theory, told Decrypt.
Crypto in Australia is “already mainstream,” Inglis said, noting how roughly 9 million Australian adults either already own crypto or are open to it.
This makes “regulatory oversight and enforceable standards matter because ordinary people are now the ones carrying the risk when claims are misleading,” he said.
Decrypt has reached out to the regulator and to BPS Financial through Qoin Foundation.