Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), at the weekend said it has not authorised investment in the cryptocurrency known as Punisher Coin, or $PUN, as it has not granted its regulatory approval.

In a public notice, the commission stressed that the promoters or issuers of $PUN are not registered to operate in any capacity within the country’s capital market.

According to the notice, SEC Nigeria calls attention “to several online publications blatantly advertising unauthorized presale of Cryptocoin termed “PUNISHER COIN,” aka “$PUN”.

Particularly perturbing, the notice continued, “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 nor registered by the Commission to either promote, launch, sale, trade or solicit investments from the Nigerian public.”

The commission said its preliminary investigations showed that Punisher Coin falls under the category of “meme coins,” digital assets typically characterized 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 added.

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.

It added 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 fade dump.

The public strongly warned all to be wary about investing in the purported presale of punisher coin ($PUN) as any person who invest in such a scheme, does so at his/her own risk.

“The Commission similarly reminds 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” it added.