The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has ordered LendingStar to cease all activities with immediate effect, in a directive issued on the 23rd of July 2018.

SC’s decision follows an inquiry which revealed that LendingStar is not registered to run in a recognised market. LendingStar is also said to be running auto-invest facilities without license or registration from the SC, which breaks the securities law.

We’ve reached out to the regulator for more information and will update this space with their response.

The SC reminds the public that there are 7 legally registered equity crowdfunding platforms, and 6 peer-to-peer platform operators. The regulator continues to suggest that issuers and investors should exercise their due dilligence and verify the legitimacy of platform operators before participating in any fundraising or investment activities.

To date, the platform claims to have RM6,777,515 in invoice amount uploaded onto its system.

LendingStar is a peer-to-peer marketplace that aims to connect funding-seeking small businesses to investors, in a bid to supposedly simplify and speed up an often slow and complex process.

It is a subsidiary of LendingStar Pacific PTE LTD, with regional headquarters in Singapore.

In 2017, the company also issued an ICO to build LendingStar Exchange (LSX), which they claim is first invoice exchange marketplace built on blockchain. It serves as a secondary exchange—where invoices bought from other finance marketplaces across the globe can be traded on the platform.

The goal was to create a platform that can support trading in fiat and cryptocurrency.

Presales began in October last year, and according to ICO Tracker, the team raised 70,000,000 LST (LendingStar Tokens) of 100,000,000. ICO Holder deemed this token a risky investment due to low activity.

Featured Image Credit: LendingStar