The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is appealing the Federal Court's decision to dismiss its lawsuit against Finder Wallet Pty Ltd, which is accused of providing unlicensed financial services, breaching product disclosure requirements, and failing to comply with its design and distribution obligations related to its cryptocurrency-related product "Finder Earn."

ASIC claims that the Finder Earn product is a form of bond. The Federal Court disagreed with this assertion and dismissed ASIC's lawsuit on March 14, 2024. ASIC is appealing this decision because it is concerned that the Finder Earn product was offered without proper licensing or authorization and therefore did not benefit from essential consumer protections.

The appeal will be heard by the Full Bench of the Federal Court, with the specific date yet to be determined.

Finder Wallet is a subsidiary of the comparison website Finder.com and is also a registered cryptocurrency exchange in Australia.

Finder Wallet offered Finder Earn from late February to November 10, 2022. Customers of Finder Earn deposited Australian dollars into their accounts, which were then exchanged for an Australian dollar-denominated "stablecoin" called TAUD and allocated to Finder Wallet. When customers exited the Finder Earn product, their accounts were reimbursed with Australian dollars. Finder Wallet paid customers (in Australian dollars) a compound annual return of 4.01% or, in some cases, 6.01%, as a return on the exchange of customer funds used by Finder Wallet.

After ASIC notified Finder Wallet of its concerns, Finder Earn ceased issuance on November 24, 2022, and all funds were fully refunded to customers.