Recap of the Previous Findings

In a previous post, we have looked into the KuCoin Cryptocurrency Exchange and noticed that their office in Hong Kong is nothing but a virtual office address. We have been extremely worried that money in this exchange will be locked up in the next China crackdown. It appeared that they have luckily survived the hit by staying under the radar. But their KuCoin Shares have plummeted from its all time high of 20 USD to the current 2 USD since then.

(Recap post here: https://medium.com/@jacksonwong2244/warning-kucoin-is-operating-in-sichuan-of-china-e08ca697030e)

Its Recent Situation

Being home-grown in Hong Kong, this exchange has always been very suspicious to me. First off, I have honestly never heard of this exchange in within the Hong Kong community. And secondly, if they have really been in Hong Kong, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) would already have taken a move on them and suspended their trading activities since they do not have a licence here in Hong Kong. See this SFC notice for reference. It says the SFC has taken regulatory actions against 7 Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchanges: https://www.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/gateway/EN/news-and-announcements/news/doc?refNo=18PR13

SFC took action against Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchanges in February of 2018.

KuCoin Has Never Been Reported by Any Hong Kong Media

If KuCoin is really situated in Hong Kong, they wouldn’t have been able to escape the radar. We would at least have seen some news report or promotion about this exchange whatsoever. But KuCoin has been very shady, and we have never seen them on a single piece of news. When we decided to look up their company search records previously, it already looked very fishy as none of their directors have Hong Kong names nor do any one of them reside in Hong Kong. For Chinese nationals to live in Hong Kong, they actually need either a working visa or to apply for a citizenship of Hong Kong. It’s not like they can just come and go when their registered residential address is in Sichuan of China. (Yes, Hong Kong has its own border too.)

Being Even More Suspicious of the Whole Thing, I Visited Their “Office”

Being even more suspicious of whether this exchange exists in Hong Kong, I paid a visit to their registered office. According to the companies search report here in Hong Kong, their address is at Flat/Rm A 20/F, KIU FU COMMERCIAL BLDG, 300 LOCKHART ROAD, WAN CHAI, HONG KONG.

This is KuCoin’s NNC1 Form filed to the Hong Kong’s Companies Registry.

This Is Their Building — KIU FU COMMERCIAL BUILDING

Here I arrived at their registered building in Wan Chai of Hong Kong.

Their Building: KIU FU COMMERCIAL BUILDING in Wan Chai of Hong Kong.

This Is Their Directory — on 20/F A, We Only See Rich Moral CPA Limited and Smart Team International Consultants Ltd

I took a picture of the directory of this building. But I couldn’t find KuCoin or anything related to an exchange at all.

So where on earth is KuCoin? Answer: God knows.

If You Do Go Up Onto The 20/F — You Only See Rich Moral CPA Limited and Smart Team International Consultants Ltd. You Don’t See Anything KuCoin

This is a picture taken at the entrance of their alleged “office”. So where the heck is KuCoin?

KuCoin doesn’t exist at Room A of the 20th floor at all. You only see these two other companies.

Since we know that they registered their company under another secretarial company called Smart Team Secretarial Ltd, I was thinking, well, maybe they are in there working anyways? I rang the bell. The staff from this other company here — Rich Moral answered the bell. She told me that there isn’t even a single person from Smart Team in there. She told me they moved out years ago. I asked if she had ever heard of the KuCoin Exchange or any cryptocurrency related companies there. She said she had never heard of anything of such there. She said she worked at this place for couple years already.

WOW. So it’s crystal clear now, guys. KuCoin has never been there and they lied to us the whole time. Wow, really? Wtf guys.

So Where Exactly are the KuCoin People?

I suspect they are either working back in Sichuan of China, as the previous post have mentioned, or they are working somewhere remotely at home in Hong Kong? But that can’t be right, right? It’s a huge exchange and they are only working at home? Well, I mean, they can. But they should at least have an office, right?

Well, let’s take a step back. Maybe they have an office else where in Hong Kong? But honestly, I don’t believe that can be the case, as we know that they don’t have Hong Kong ID cards or passports. They can’t just enter Hong Kong as they wish. Their employees are employed out of Sichuan of China too. In Hong Kong, it’s impossible to hire someone for 4000 RMB. The minimum salary here in Hong Kong is about 13,000 HKD, equivalent to approximately 12,000 RMB. Hong Kong has its own border too. Chinese nationals can’t just come in and out without a permit.

Can KuCoin Exit-Scam on Us?

Since KuCoin is completely in stealth, and you couldn’t find them in their registered “office”, nor is there even a single person in their “office”, if KuCoin decides to exit scam on us — either by withholding our withdrawals or simply by shutting down their entire exchange and run with our money —we will have absolutely no recourse. And GOOD LUCK to you then in trying to get back your money. Mt. Gox got hacked in 2013, but at least they have an office where you could find them. These KuCoin people — where the heck even are they? They are like ghosts. They are’t there. Thinking about this gives me shivers, guys.

KuCoin Is Crazily Shady To Deal With — I Won’t Put A Single Dime In There

I don’t trust their exchange at all. They are just too shady. They told us that they have an office in Hong Kong. But that’s all a lie. No one’s even there! It’s completely empty. And most importantly, they don’t even have a Hong Kong licence to deal in cryptocurrencies. They have never been reported by a single news here either. Guys, this is crazily shady.

I don’t know what to advise. I just want all of you to be extremely cautious when you decide to deposit money into this exchange.