{"id":55460,"date":"2025-11-21T11:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/uk-fraud-office-probes-28m-crypto-fund-collapse-two-arrested\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T11:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:16:14","slug":"uk-fraud-office-probes-28m-crypto-fund-collapse-two-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/uk-fraud-office-probes-28m-crypto-fund-collapse-two-arrested\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Fraud Office Probes $28M Crypto Fund Collapse, Two Arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<h4 color=\"#333\">In brief<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Basis Markets raised $28M in late 2021, then shut down months later without refunds.<\/li>\n<li>The SFO arrested two men in raids across London and West Yorkshire.<\/li>\n<li>Victims are urged to come forward as the case tests the UK\u2019s crypto enforcement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>British prosecutors are investigating a failed crypto project that raised tens of millions from retail investors before shutting down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The U.K. Serious Fraud Office said Thursday it <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/sfo-announces-investigation-into-28-million-crypto-scheme\" target=\"_blank\"><span>arrested<\/span><\/a><span> two men as part of an inquiry into Basis Markets, a collapsed crypto hedge fund that allegedly defrauded backers out of $28 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The office executed search warrants in Herne Hill and near Bradford, seizing digital devices and documents. Authorities suspect the men whose identities remain undisclosed of fraud and money laundering related to two rounds of fundraising that took place between November and December 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Basis Markets was able to raise at least $28 million through two public fundraisers: one in November 2021 through an NFT membership sale, and another in December through a token offering, according to the SFO. The funds were meant to launch \u201ccrypto hedge fund\u201d arbitrage strategies to retail investors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;With our expanding cryptocurrency capability, we are determined to pursue anyone who would seek to use cryptocurrency to defraud investors,&#8221; SFO Director Nick Ephgrave said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The investigation is ongoing, and the SFO has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/UKSFO\/status\/1991554129039356183?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener\"><span>asked<\/span><\/a><span> the public to come forward with any information that could help. <\/span><i><span>Decrypt<\/span><\/i><span> reached out to SFO for comment on the eligibility of victims for restitution and whether other enforcement agencies are coordinating.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hours after U.K. authorities announced their probe, the BASIS token dropped nearly 40% before settling at a 28% loss on the day. The token has been effectively dead since April 27, 2022, when $10.8 million was dumped in a single day, according to CoinGecko&#8217;s historical data.<\/span><span><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>By June of the same year, \u201cinvestors were informed that, due to proposed new US regulations, the project could no longer proceed as planned,\u201d the SFO stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Basis Markets pitched itself as a \u201cyield optimizer for directionless trading,\u201d according to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20211124045918\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span>snapshots<\/span><\/a><span> recorded on Wayback Machine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cOur direction is we&#8217;re going to build a decentralized liquidity pool,\u201d one of the founders, operating under the pseudonym TraderSkew and named as Adam in what appears to be an investor call, said in a documented <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jXeJV3NpwzA\" target=\"_blank\"><span>video<\/span><\/a><span>. \u201cThe limited equity owners [\u2026] You will own all of the assets.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The individual appears to be Adam Cobb-Webb, a 48-year-old UK national identified through CFTC <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cftc.gov\/PressRoom\/PressReleases\/8760-23\" target=\"_blank\"><span>documentation<\/span><\/a><span> from 2023, where the commission fined Cobb-Webb $150,000 for spoofing oil futures contracts during the same period he was promoting Basis Markets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Investors were promised a low-risk yield via basis trading, a strategy exploiting futures premiums across markets. Funds were allegedly routed directly to personal wallets controlled by the anonymous team, according to an investigation series published by the group Crypto Sleuth Investigations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Decrypt<\/span><\/i><span> has reached out to the group for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>Daily Debrief Newsletter<\/h3>\n<p>Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In brief Basis Markets raised $28M in late 2021, then shut down months later without refunds. The SFO arrested two [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":55461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tien-dien-tu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}