Amsterdam-based BUX, a neo-brokerage platform, has recently faced a severe backlash from its token holders. The BUX Token, the platform’s cryptocurrency, has become untradeable since September 2023, leaving holders with worthless coins.
As a result, Join BUX Together, a group led by Steven Deurloo, co-owner of ThoroFinance, seeks compensation for the loss and is considering legal action where individuals can join on a no-cure, no-pay basis.Â
The group comprises over 250 affected individuals owning approximately 30M BUX tokens.
Talking about addressing concerns with Join Bux Together and other token holder representatives to Silicon Canals, BUX CEO Yorick Naeff says, “There have been many conversations with Mr. Deurloo and a few other clients that speculated on the price of the BUX Token. Mr. Deurloo claims to represent almost 200 clients but did not advise us about any details of these clients. Therefore, we cannot tell whether this number of 200 is correct.”
“By far, most of our clients used the BUX Token for its utility and therefore only bought the number of BUX Tokens required (1000) to be eligible for the free crypto trading. The BUX Token is a legacy token from Blockport that BUX gave a utility for loyalty. Nothing more and nothing less,” adds Naeff.
However, Steven Deurloo claims that BUX and its employees have benefitted from promoting BUX Token to investors and clients.Â
“Despite BUX’s statements, it is evident that BUX and BUX employees substantially benefited from actively promoting the BUX Token to investors and BUX clients after taking over the crypto business from Blockport,” says Steven to Silicon Canals.
“After three years of unfulfilled promises, BUX suddenly stated that the BUX Token should not be bought as an investment, confusing investors. Shortly afterward, the BUX Token was delisted, and it could no longer be traded and lost all its remaining value,” he continues.
“Investors and BUX Clients feel deceived by BUX and facing a complete loss of their investment and have decided to take legal action,” he adds,
The announcement comes a few days after ABN AMRO agreed to acquire BUX to strengthen its footprint in the retail investment space and enhance its digital offering. However, the purchase does not include the company’s cryptocurrency activities.Â
Termination of BUX Crypto services
In another announcement, BUX revealed that all BUX Crypto services would be terminated on March 19, 2024.
Consequently, the BUX Token utility will also be discontinued, including waiving cryptocurrency trading commissions for token holders.
However, BUX plans to compensate users with at least 1,000 BUX Tokens as of December 18, 2023, by waiving their monthly service fees for twelve months on the BUX shares/ETF platform.
“As a gesture of goodwill, BUX will grant every user that holds at least 1,000 BUX Tokens in the BUX app as of December 18, 2023, a twelve-month waiver of the monthly service fees at the BUX shares/ETF platform, amounting to €2,99 per month. This waiver will go into effect in April 2024,” says BUX.
Token holders who wish to withdraw their BUX Tokens from the BUX app and transfer them to their on-chain wallets must contact BUX customer support via email with their BUX Token wallet address before March 1, 2024.
What happened?
The BUX Token originates from the Blockport Token (BPT), which Blockport issued through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in January 2018. However, Blockport went bankrupt in 2019, and in 2020, the Blockport Token was renamed to BUX Token (BUX) with the permission of BUX after the acquisition.
Since 2020, BUX Alternative Investments has given its clients a minimum number of BUX Tokens with BUX, the right to trade crypto with zero commissions.
In January 2022, crypto was added as an asset class to the BUX application, and the utility was also added.
BUX also had ideas to add utility-type uses to the BUX Token. Still, due to market circumstances (e.g., the FTX debacle, the tougher market for venture-backed firms, etc.), BUX decided to keep the utility as-is.
Even though the BUX Token was nothing more than a utility, a handful of clients speculated on its price, says the BUX CEO.
In September 2023, KuCoin delisted the BUX Token from its platform due to limited liquidity.
“The BUX Token has been delisted from KuCoin as of September 22, 2023. Therefore, it remains untradable on the BUX app,” says the company.
In December 2023, the company signed a contract with ABN AMRO bank to sell the BUX shares/ETF platform, excluding its crypto offering.
Acknowledges unfortunate loss, but..!
BUX CEO Yorick Naeff acknowledges the unfortunate loss of token holders but emphasises that the company never made promises regarding the token’s value.
“We regret that a few clients have lost money, but the sole reason is that these token holders themselves speculated on the BUX Token, while we provided a utility to an existing token, nothing more and nothing less. BUX is not even the smart contract owner,” adds Naeff.
Some people have resorted to extreme measures, including sending death threats to BUX executives, which Naeff finds deeply concerning.
BUX remains open to finding a solution and hopes to avoid a costly legal battle.
“We are not worried about potential legal actions. Nonetheless, we are investigating what has happened with the BUX Token as much as reasonably possible. It includes certain transactions and communications regarding the BUX Token,” concludes Naeff.
Read the orginal article: https://siliconcanals.com/news/amsterdams-bux-ceo-faces-death-threats/
