Hong Kong’s crypto drive hit by scam tokens, Ant Digital says
Ant Digital Technologies warned that scam “Jovay” tokens are propagating on Solana, BNB Chain and Ethereum, reiterating that Jovay has no native coin and advising users not to interact with assets claiming an official link.
The alert lands as Hong Kong advances its licensed-platform regime and a new stablecoin law, putting brand hijacks and phishing schemes in sharper relief for both retail users and institutional desks.
The hook for scammers is straightforward: Jovay is pitched as a self-developed, enterprise-grade L2 for institutional real-world-asset settlement - no emissions, no ticker, compliance-first architecture. That creates a narrative gap copycats rush to fill by minting thin-liquidity SPL/ERC-20/BEP-20 tokens with look-alike tickers, spoofed logos and Telegram/X blasts pointing to unaudited contracts. The playbook is familiar: spin up a pool on a DEX, wash a few trades to fake momentum, then pivot to a presale or “airdrop claim” site that harvests approvals and drains wallets.
The hook for scammers is straightforward: Jovay is pitched as a self-developed, enterprise-grade L2 for institutional real-world-asset settlement - no emissions, no ticker, compliance-first architecture. That creates a narrative gap copycats rush to fill by minting thin-liquidity SPL/ERC-20/BEP-20 tokens with look-alike tickers, spoofed logos and Telegram/X blasts pointing to unaudited contracts. The playbook is familiar: spin up a pool on a DEX, wash a few trades to fake momentum, then pivot to a presale or “airdrop claim” site that harvests approvals and drains wallets.
Hong Kong’s rules now make that grift easier to spot if you know where to look. Under the SFC’s virtual-asset trading platform framework, any centralized venue courting Hong Kong users must hold a license, enforce suitability screens and publish clear product lists. Marketing to the public without authorization is a charging path, as the JPEX case illustrated with arrests and asset freezes that followed splashy, unlicensed promotions.
For practitioners, the operational checklist is tight: confirm the venue against the SFC’s licensed list, verify issuer disclosures, and treat any “official” token from a non-disclosing enterprise chain as counterfeit by default.
Ant’s own brand actions have been fodder for opportunists. High-visibility trademarks - such as “AntCoin” - spawned a wave of opportunistic contracts trying to free-ride on name recognition. The underlying Jovay design, however, is the opposite of a retail coin pitch. It targets RWA workflows, chain-agnostic interfacing and compliance hooks for auditors and counterparties. No ticker means no primary liquidity to front-run, which is precisely why impostors try to manufacture one.
Institutional Web3 activity is pulled into onshore with HK licensing, while Mainland China authorities keep a harder line on private crypto issuance. That split funnels big-name Chinese tech into Hong Kong’s regulated perimeter and, inevitably, attracts copycats every time an enterprise chain is announced without a token.
As the stablecoin law beds in and the SFC expands supervision to OTC and custody, the attack surface narrows. Therefore, the market default holds: an enterprise L2 with a published “no token” stance should be treated as coin-free infrastructure.
For practitioners, the operational checklist is tight: confirm the venue against the SFC’s licensed list, verify issuer disclosures, and treat any “official” token from a non-disclosing enterprise chain as counterfeit by default.
Ant’s own brand actions have been fodder for opportunists. High-visibility trademarks - such as “AntCoin” - spawned a wave of opportunistic contracts trying to free-ride on name recognition. The underlying Jovay design, however, is the opposite of a retail coin pitch. It targets RWA workflows, chain-agnostic interfacing and compliance hooks for auditors and counterparties. No ticker means no primary liquidity to front-run, which is precisely why impostors try to manufacture one.
Institutional Web3 activity is pulled into onshore with HK licensing, while Mainland China authorities keep a harder line on private crypto issuance. That split funnels big-name Chinese tech into Hong Kong’s regulated perimeter and, inevitably, attracts copycats every time an enterprise chain is announced without a token.
As the stablecoin law beds in and the SFC expands supervision to OTC and custody, the attack surface narrows. Therefore, the market default holds: an enterprise L2 with a published “no token” stance should be treated as coin-free infrastructure.
Author
Sebile Fane cut her teeth in blockchain by building tiny NFT experiments with friends in her living room, long before the buzzwords took hold. She’s driven by a curiosity for the human stories behind smart contracts — whether it’s a small-town artist minting her first token or a DAO voting on climate grants — and weaves technical insight with genuine empathy.
