HotNews No. 150: DAO1 & Apertum – Fraud Alert from Latvia
Dear Clients,
On December 5, 2025, the Bank of Latvia issued an official warning regarding DAO1 and products offered by the Apertum Foundation, emphasizing that these platforms and their investment offers do not have the proper authorization to operate in Latvia.
DAO1 promotes its services through webinars and social media, targeting investors in Latvia as well. The platform claims that participants can earn passive income through automated trading and AI robots that analyze the market and execute trades automatically.
Important: Trading in any form of crypto-assets carries significant financial risk. The Bank of Latvia urges caution and advises against participating in such offers.
DAO1 is a fraudulent investment scheme built around the APTM token of the Apertum Foundation, operated by convicted fraudster Josip Heit and several accomplices.
Josip Heit, originally from Croatia and believed to hold a German passport, launched DAO1 and the Apertum Foundation following the collapse of GSPartners, a previous fraudulent scheme based on the G999 token. GSPartners collapsed at the end of 2023 after multiple regulatory warnings from North American authorities. In September 2024, Josip Heit agreed to refund GSPartners victims in jurisdictions where settlements were ongoing.
Besides Latvia, fraud warnings for DAO1 and the Apertum Foundation have also been issued in Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and Lithuania.
Website traffic for DAO1 has steadily declined, dropping 40% month-on-month in November 2025 to approximately 22,700 visits, which corresponds with the fall in the public value of APTM tokens. Most traffic comes from Germany (62%), the Dominican Republic (24%), and the UK (8%).
On November 26, 2025, APTM reached a new all-time low of $0.392. This decline is believed to result from executives and investors cashing out, exceeding internal trading capacity and the declining rate of new investments.
Recently, DAO1 informed investors that it has a “zero-tolerance policy” toward participants who “spread negativity” and encouraged them to engage in astroturfing campaigns on CoinMarketCap and other platforms, which violates CoinMarketCap’s community rules.
As of December 2025, DAO1 has received five official fraud warnings. All investors should exercise extreme caution and avoid investing in these platforms, as the risk of loss is very high.
Kind regards,
Your DefendMe Team