DAO1 has received a fraud warning from the Bank of Latvia.

As per Bank of Latvia’s December 5th DAO1 warning;

The Bank of Latvia warns about offers of DAO1 and related products, the provision of which has not received appropriate permission in Latvia.

DAO1 promotes its services in the digital environment – through webinars and social media channels, including in Latvian.

DAO1 claims that its participants can earn passive income through automated trading and artificial intelligence robots that analyze the market and execute transactions automatically.

The Bank of Latvia points out that trading in any form of crypto-asset investments poses significant financial risks and urges caution and not to use such offers.

Offering unlicensed investments to Latvian residents is illegal under Latvian financial law.

Bank of Latvia specifically cites DAO1’s website and the website of Apertum Foundation.

DAO1 is a fraudulent investment scheme built around Apertum Foundation’s APTM token.

DAO1 and Apertum Foundation are run by convicted fraudster Josip Heit and several accomplices.

Originally from Croatia but believed to hold a German passport, Heit launched DAO1 and Apertum Foundation after GSPartners collapsed.

GSPartners was a fraudulent investment scheme built around its G999 token. For all intents and purposes, DAO1 and Apertum Foundation are a continuation of the fraud Heit started with GSPartners.

GSPartners collapsed in late 2023 following over a dozen regulatory fraud warnings from North American regulators.

Heit settled GSPartners fraud charges with North American regulators in September 2024. As part of the settlement, which remains ongoing as of December 2025, Heit agreed to refund GSPartners victims in settling jurisdictions.

In addition to Latvia, DAO1 and/or Apertum Foundation fraud warnings have been issued by Germany, New Zealand, Australia and Lithuania.

DAO1 website traffic has been in steady decline over the past few months, dropping 40% month on month to just ~22,700 monthly visits in November 2025.

As tracked by SimilarWeb, top DAO1 website traffic sources are Germany (62%), the Dominican Republic (24%) and the UK (8%).

DAO1’s website traffic decline corresponds with APTM’s public trading value tanking.

APTM reached a new all time low of 39.2 cents on November 26th, 2025. The decline is believed to be due to DAO1 executives and investors cashing out, outstripping internal trading and the declining rate of new investment.

In response to DAO1 and APTM collapsing, DAO1 recently informed investors it had a “zero tolerance policy” against investors “spread[ing] negativity”.

DAO1 is also begging investors to engage in astroturfing on CoinMarketCap and other social media platforms:

As per CoinMarketCap’s official Community Rules;

No user should manipulate or provide incorrect information to other users, spread rumors about a particular project or coin, or use community power to cheerlead or bash any project and try to drive the opinion of a certain coin or project.

Users shall not create multiple accounts to post similar messages or opinions either.

No users should post information about selling or buying any illegal goods or services, or reveal any unlawful actions.

As of December 2025, DAO1 now has five fraud warnings against it. Whether CoinMarketCap takes any action remains to be seen.