By Ghazali Ibrahim
The Federal Government has issued a stern warning to Nigerians over a cryptocurrency known as Punisher Coin, also called $PUN or SPUN.
The commission described it as unregulated, risky, and likely a Ponzi scheme.
In a statement released Sunday in Lagos, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Punisher Coin is not approved for issuance to the public and its promoters are not registered to operate in the Nigerian capital market.
According to the SEC, preliminary investigations revealed that Punisher Coin is a meme coin, a type of cryptocurrency that generally has no intrinsic value, use case, or project backing.
“The promoters or issuers of ‘PUNISHER COIN’ aka ‘SPUN’ are NOT REGISTERED to operate in any capacity in the Nigerian Capital Market,” the Commission stated.
“$PUN is not approved by the Commission for issuance to the public.”
The regulator explained that meme coins are often linked to pump-and-dump schemes, where coin prices are artificially inflated through misleading promotions, only for the promoters to sell off their holdings at a profit.
“Once the promoters dump their coins and stop the hype, the price typically falls and investors lose money,” the SEC warned.
In light of these findings, the commission has strongly advised Nigerians to stay away from the ongoing presale of Punisher Coin, adding that those who invest do so at their own risk.
The Commission also urged members of the public to verify the authenticity of any crypto project or trading platform through its official FinTech and Innovation portal before making any financial commitments.
This latest warning comes amid a surge in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes across Nigeria.
