ASIC Sues Ex-Blockchain Global Executive Over $20 Million in Missing Customer Funds

Jimmy Aki
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On May 28, Australia’s financial regulator (ASIC) sued Liang Guo, a former director of Blockchain Global, for his role in the ACX Exchange collapse. The lawsuit alleges that he mishandled over $20 million in customer funds and failed to maintain proper financial records.

Has Australia Just Sparked a New Wave of Crypto Arrests?

According to an official press release by ASIC, the lawsuit follows years of investigation.

Between 2016 and 2019, Blockchain Global operated the ACX Exchange, a cryptocurrency trading platform for both retail and institutional investors.

However, by the time liquidators took over in February 2022, the damage had already been done.

It detailed serious breaches of the Corporations Act, which governs the operations and financial conduct of companies in Australia. Investigators determined that Blockchain Global owed $58 million to creditors, including $23 million directly owed to ACX Exchange customers.

ASIC began formal proceedings in January 2024, prompting the Federal Court to impose temporary travel restrictions on Guo. However, when these restrictions lapsed in August, Guo left the country and has not returned.

For ASIC, this lawsuit represents more than one man. It serves as a warning to the broader industry.

In early May, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) seized over $4.5 million worth of assets linked to a major crypto-related hack. 25 Bitcoins, a luxury waterfront property in Queensland, and a high-end vehicle were confiscated.

A few months earlier, in February, police carried out sweeping raids on a criminal gang operating in Melbourne. Bitcoin ATMs, collector card stores, firearms, a pill press, over 100 car keys, and a stockpile of stolen power tools were found.

Australia’s recent enforcement blitz is showing a pattern. Crypto fraud is no longer slipping through the cracks.

Crypto Fraud and Laundering Plunge Global Markets

While ASIC and other Australian agencies ramp up enforcement, crypto-related crime is drawing global attention.

From Asia to Europe to the U.S., authorities are taking aggressive steps to rein in illicit activity, indicating that the days of unchecked crypto fraud may be coming to an end.

On May 13, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic exposed a Chinese-language Telegram group called Xinbi Guarantee that had laundered at least $8.4 billion in crypto.

In the final quarter of 2024 alone, the group processed over $1 billion.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, artist Ed Suman lost $2 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum after scammers posing as Coinbase support exploited leaked customer data. The sophisticated social engineering attack underscores how even experienced crypto users remain vulnerable to fraud.

Across the Atlantic, Europol and Spanish police dismantled a criminal crypto laundering network responsible for laundering €21 million ($23.5 million) in digital assets.

Around the world, regulators and law enforcement are moving quickly to shut down crypto fraud and reclaim stolen customer funds.

What once seemed like the Wild West of finance is facing real consequences. And ASIC, with its latest move, is right at the centre of it.

About Jimmy Aki PRO INVESTOR

Based in the UK, Jimmy is an economic researcher with outstanding hands-on and heads-on experience in Macroeconomic finance analysis, forecasting and planning. He has honed his skills having worked cross-continental as a finance analyst, which gives him inter-cultural experience. He currently has a strong passion for regulation and macroeconomic trends as it allows him peek under the global bonnet to see how the world works.