The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned Nigerians to steer clear of investing in an unauthorised cryptocurrency called Punisher Coin or $PUN.
In a public notice published on its website, the Commission noted that Punisher Coin is currently not registered in Nigeria despite being advertised through various online platforms.
“The Commission hereby informs the public that the promoters or issuers of “Punisher Coin” aka “$PUN” are not registered to operate in any capacity in the Nigerian Capital Market, and also Punisher Coin ($PUN) is not approved by the Commission for issuance to the public,” SEC noted in the statement.
Preliminary investigations by the Commission revealed that the Punisher Coin ($PUN) is a meme coin.
Meme coins generally have no use case, intrinsic value, or tangible projects backing them. Any attributed value to meme coin is usually linked to its promoters or the community effort which more often than not are susceptible to pump-and-dump schemes (a form of fraudulent activity that involves promoters spreading false or misleading information to create a buying frenzy that “pumps” up the price of a ‘coin’ and then “dumps” the coin by selling their own coins at the inflated price). Once the promoters dump their coins and stop hyping the coin, the coin price typically falls, and investors lose money.
Accordingly, the SEC advised the public to refrain from engaging in the purported presale of Punisher Coin($PUN) as any person who invests in the scheme does so at his/her own risk.
The Commission similarly reminded the investing public of the need to always verify the authenticity of crypto/virtual or digital assets, the registration status of their promoters and trading platforms via the Commission’s dedicated portal: https://home.sec.gov.ng/fintech-and-innovation-hub-finport/registered-fintech-operators/ before engaging in any form of virtual or digital assets investment.