DAO1 and Apertum have received a securities fraud warning from the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC).

As per ASC’s April 22nd DAO1 and Apertum warning;

DAO1 is not registered to trade in or advise on securities or derivatives in Alberta.

It is recommended that investors should not deal or engage with firms that are not registered as there is no assurance of any investor protections.

ASC cites both DAO1 and Apertum website domains in its warning; “dao1.ai”, “dao1.info” and “apertum.io”.

As part of “investing wisely and avoiding fraud”, ASC advises consumers check registration prior to investing. Failing to register and offering unregistered securities violates Canadian financial law (securities fraud).

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

As of March 2026, SimilarWeb was tracking ~22,000 monthly DAO1 website visits (down 45% month on month).

Top sources of DAO1 website traffic over the same period were Germany (41%), the Dominican Republic (26%), South Africa (14%), the UK (11%) and the US (4%).