Hong Kong’s securities watchdog has declared broker SBCFX and many of its affiliated entities unlicensed, shortly after a collapse in trading that forced thousands of gold investors to lose their USDT holdings.According to the reports, the SFC added SBCFX, Star Bridge Capital Group, Star Bridge Capital Pty Limited, and Topical Wealth International Ltd to its alert list on August 28, alongside the Chinese-language names 星橋資本 and 星橋資本集團. The warning links to the broker’s site, sbcfx.com.NameRole / relationshipJurisdiction / regulatorLicence or statusWhat the record showsSBCFXOnline brokerage/trading brandInternational; Hong Kong investor-facing presenceNot licensed by Hong Kong SFCSFC lists SBCFX as an unlicensed entity and says it is not permitted to conduct regulated activities in Hong Kong or actively market such services to Hong Kong public. (SFC)Star Bridge Capital GroupParent/group name associated with SBCFXInternationalNot licensed by Hong Kong SFCIncluded by name in the SFC’s Aug. 28 warning as an unlicensed entity. (SFC)Star Bridge Capital Group Pty LtdLegal entity identified by SBCFX as an operatorAustralia / South AfricaASIC AFSL 503908; South Africa FSCA FSP 54813SBCFX says the entity holds Australian Financial Services Licence 503908 and South African FSCA licence 54813. (SBCFX)Topical Wealth International LtdTrading-name entity associated with Star Bridge Capital GroupSeychellesSeychelles FSA Securities Dealer licence SD077Topical Wealth says it is authorised and regulated by the Seychelles FSA under SD077.Topical Wealth International LtdEntity with Hong Kong connection disclosed on its websiteHong Kong / SeychellesNot an SFC licenceIts website lists a physical address in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, while identifying its regulatory licence as Seychelles FSA SD077.SBCFX / Star Bridge Capital entity breakdown l SFCThe regulator’s stance is limited yet important because, according to the SFC, none of the identified parties in the case are licensed or registered to perform regulated activities in Hong Kong.Companies based outside Hong Kong are not permitted to advertise their services to the people of Hong Kong without prior authorization.The alert does not imply that fraud has occurred nor that the licenses possessed by the group in other jurisdictions are no longer valid. However, it means that HK clients dealing with these entities are not offered the protection normally afforded to SFC-licensed firms.The London gold blowup that triggered itThe designation came at a time when controversies were brewing around SBCFX. Caixin Global reported on August 22 that investors and the Hong Kong police had gathered at the office of SBCFX in The Center in Central after a severe trading glitch resulted in massive liquidations in gold trading in London and wiped out thousands of retail investors’ accounts.Caixin estimated that around 3,000 investors from inside and outside mainland China might be prone to suffer losses from the incident.The services have been impacted in relation to two growing challenges faced by regulators; these two include the use of heavily leveraged algorithmic trading and the increase in deposits in cryptocurrencies in the OTC derivatives market.Another challenge was determining which entity traders were actually dealing with. SBCFX marketed itself as the online brand of Star Bridge Capital and cites regulatory ties in Australia, South Africa, and Seychelles, per reports.These include an Australian Financial Services Licence held by Star Bridge Capital Group Pty Ltd and a Seychelles dealer licence held by Topical Wealth International Ltd. The broker says the entity serving each client depends on where that client lives.It may be difficult to regain those depositsThe nature of operations also makes it difficult to regain those deposits in stablecoins now.Investors were able to create leveraged positions using USDT, Tether’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, and stablecoins that are not held in a regulated institution can be difficult to get back once something goes wrong.A report published in March 2026 by the Financial Action Task Force addressed this issue. Transfers of stablecoins using peer-to-peer technology in unhosted wallets do not involve any regulated Virtual Asset Service Providers between the transacting parties, while issuers sometimes might not be able to monitor transactions across blockchains.At the same time, the very elements of USDT that make it suitable for cross-border trading accounts of investors can also complicate the process of asset freezing or tracing in case these individuals might wish to get their funds back.Even if a stablecoin issuer has the capability to intervene, recovery is not something that just happens. Tether states that it has assisted in freezing assets worth over $4.4 billion while cooperating with more than 340 law enforcement agencies from more than 65 countries.Cryptopolitan cited a report that looked at 2,955 Tether freeze incidents on August 6. It discovered an average of over two hours from the time a freeze was proposed to when it was executed on-chain. There were about $20.4 million worth of USDT transferred by over sixty addresses ahead of the freeze, or effectively written off.For many traders seeking to salvage their assets in foreign accounts, it creates uncertainty about whether their funds can be retrieved. The key point from Hong Kong’s SFC is that none of the four names in its Aug. 28, 2026, alert is licensed or registered with the SFC.The overseas licenses do not mean the entities were licensed by Hong Kong’s SFC. The SFC’s Aug. 28 alert explicitly says all five names — including SBCFX and the three corporate names — are not licensed or registered with the SFC for regulated activities.RegulatorEntityLicenceRelevance to Hong Kong warningHong Kong SFCSBCFXNoneSFC says SBCFX is unlicensed in Hong KongHong Kong SFCStar Bridge Capital GroupNoneListed as unlicensedHong Kong SFCStar Bridge Capital Pty LtdNoneListed as unlicensedHong Kong SFCTopical Wealth International LtdNoneListed as unlicensedASIC — AustraliaStar Bridge Capital Group Pty LtdAFSL 503908Separate overseas regulatory status claimed by SBCFXFSCA — South AfricaStar Bridge Capital Group Pty LtdFSP 54813Separate overseas regulatory status claimed by SBCFXSeychelles FSATopical Wealth International LtdSD077Separate overseas regulatory status claimed by SBCFXRegulatory Picture at a Glance The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.