The investing public in the country has been warned against buying a meme coin, Punisher Coin, otherwise known as $PUN, because it has not been approved by the Nigerian authorities.
This caution was given by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a statement issued on Saturday.
The promoters of Punisher Coin have been advertising the presale of the crypto coin through various platforms, including on the internet.
“The commission hereby informs the public that the promoters or issuers of Punisher Coin are not registered to operate in any capacity in the Nigerian capital market, and also Punisher Coin is not approved by the commission for issuance to the public,” a part of the statement stated.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that Punisher Coin 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 most often than not are susceptible to pump and dump schemes (a form of fraudulent activity that involves promoters spreading false and misleading information to create a buying frenzy that pumps up the price of a coin 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 public is advised to refrain from engaging in the purported presale of Punisher Coin as any person who invests in the scheme does so at his/her own risk.
“The commission similarly reminds 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 through the commission’s dedicated channels before engaging in any form of virtual or digital assets investment,” the notice added.