The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a warning to Nigerians about investing in the cryptocurrency known as Punisher Coin, or $PUN.

This, the commission said, is due to its unauthorised presale and lack of regulatory approval.

In a public notice, the SEC stated that the promoters or issuers of $PUN are not registered to operate in any capacity within the Nigerian capital market.

The commission stated that “The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“The Commission”) has been drawn to several online publications blatantly advertising unauthorized presale of Cryptocoin termed “PUNISHER COIN” aka “$PUN”. Particularly perturbing is the write-up by daily Trust E-Paper: “Cryptos to Buy: Why Punisher Coin Could Join Avalanche and Chainlink as a Top Investment Pick”

The commission informed the public that neither “PUNISHER COIN” aka “$PUN” nor its promoters have been vetted or registered by the commission to either promote, launch, sell, trade or solicit investments from the Nigerian public.

The SEC said its preliminary investigations revealed that Punisher Coin falls under the category of “meme coins,” digital assets typically characterised by the absence of tangible utility or underlying projects.

“Further investigation has revealed that Punisher Coin or $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 most 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,” the SEC stated.

The SEC highlighted that the value of such coins is often driven by hype and social media buzz, making them vulnerable to market manipulation through schemes commonly known as pump. SEC explained that these schemes involve promoters inflating the price of the coin through misleading claims, only to sell their holdings at the peak, leaving other investors exposed to significant losses when the hype fades and dumps.

It strongly warned Nigerians to be wary about investing in the purported presale of Punisher Coin ($PUN) as any person who invests in such a 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 its promoters and trading platform via the Commission’s dedicated portal: https://home.sec.gov.ng/fintech-and-innovation-hub-finport/registered-fintech-operators/ before indulging in any form of virtual or digital assets investment”, the Commission added.