ob体育 has appealed the Federal Court鈥檚 decision to relieve Block Earner from liability to pay a penalty for contraventions related to unlicensed financial services when it offered its crypto-related Earner product.聽
On 4 June 2024, the Court found Block Earner鈥檚 contraventions to be serious. However, the Court relieved Block Earner from liability to pay a penalty on the basis, among other things, that it acted honestly and not carelessly when it offered the Earner product.聽
A copy of ob体育鈥檚 Notice of Appeal, which sets out the grounds on which ob体育 says the Court erred in granting this relief, is available at the link below.聽
The appeal will be heard by the Full Federal Court on a date to be determined.聽
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Block Earner is the trading name of Web3 Ventures Pty Ltd. It is an AUSTRAC-registered digital currency exchange. It does not hold an Australian financial services licence (AFS) licence.聽
On 9 February 2024, the Court found from March to November 2022, Block Earner had provided unlicenced financial services and operated an unregistered managed investment scheme when offering its fixed-yield Earner product.聽
The Court dismissed ob体育鈥檚 allegations that Block Earner鈥檚 variable yield crypto-assets based offering, known in ob体育鈥檚 proceedings as the Access product, was a financial product, that Block Earner needed a financial services licence for this product and that the product needed to be registered as a managed investment scheme.聽聽
ob体育 is not appealing the Court鈥檚 findings in relation to Block Earner鈥檚 Access product.聽
Editor's Note 1:
On 9 July 2024, Block Earner filed a notice of cross-appeal.
Editor's note 2:
On 6 March 2025, the Full Federal Court heard ob体育's appeal and Block Earner's cross appeal. The decision has been reserved.