The product is banned in the UK
Manchester City's new cryptocurrency sponsor appears to be offering UK customers a product which is banned in the country, a report in
The Athletic has revealed.
The Premier League leaders announced a sponsorship with OKX last week, with the Seychelles-based company described as being a "fast, secure and innovative cryptocurrency exchange".
Some cryptocurrencies have seen their popularity soar over the course of the last 12 months. Despite a recent fall in value, City are one of many football clubs to have announced such a partnership.
OKX sells cryptocurrencies within the UK. This is perfectly legal, but the company also claims to have the "planet's most active
crypto derivatives markets," - which, as highlighted by
The Athletic, are banned in the country.
However, OKX remains in compliance with the rules outlined by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
A crypto derivative is essentially a financial contract which speculates on the future price of an asset, such as a commodity, stocks or currency.
https://twitter.com/ManCity/status/1499686384835170309
The sale of crypto derivatives have been banned in the UK as of January, 2021 after the UKFCA determined that "retail consumers might suffer harm from sudden and unexpected losses if they invest in these products" following an investigation.
OKX also advertised the product during the announcement of their partnership with Manchester City. This has since been removed following an enquiry from
The Athletic.
A spokesperson from OKX said: "This text was featured in an 'About OKX' section on a partnership-related landing page located on okx.com.
"Furthermore, it described OKX global operations. We have removed the text that mentions 'derivatives' from said text in order to avoid further confusion."
The company also stressed that their partnership with City was for their worldwide fanbase and not supporters solely based in the UK.
OKX are also keen to highlight that "disclaimer messages do in fact appear for UK customers on desktop and mobile when selecting the account mode and when attempting to upgrade an account to trade leveraged products."
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