SBCFX Collapse Leaves Thousands at Risk of Losing USDT Holdings
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued a warning about SBCFX, an online brokerage and trading brand that is not licensed to operate in Hong Kong. The SFC added SBCFX, along with its affiliated entities Star Bridge Capital Group, Star Bridge Capital Pty Limited, and Topical Wealth International Ltd, to its alert list on August 28.
The warning comes after a collapse in trading that forced thousands of gold investors to lose their USDT holdings. According to reports, around 3,000 investors from inside and outside mainland China may be prone to suffer losses from the incident.
SBCFX marketed itself as the online brand of Star Bridge Capital and cited regulatory ties in Australia, South Africa, and Seychelles. However, the SFC's alert explicitly states that none of these entities are licensed or registered with the SFC for regulated activities.
The collapse of SBCFX has highlighted the risks associated with using stablecoins such as USDT. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report published in March 2026 noted that transfers of stablecoins using peer-to-peer technology in unhosted wallets can be difficult to track and recover from.
Tether, the issuer of USDT, has assisted in freezing assets worth over $4.4 billion while cooperating with more than 340 law enforcement agencies from more than 65 countries. However, even with this assistance, recovery of frozen assets can take a significant amount of time, with an average of over two hours from proposal to execution on-chain.