The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a strong warning to Nigerians against investing in Punisher Coin, also known as Spun, declaring it unregistered and potentially fraudulent.
In a public notice released on Saturday, SEC stated that its investigations revealed that Spun is a meme coin—a type of cryptocurrency with no inherent value, utility, or project backing it.
The Commision emphasized that the promoters or issuers of Punisher Coin are not registered to operate in any capacity in the Nigerian capital market.
“The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (‘The Commission’) has been drawn to several online publications advertising an unauthorized presale of Crypto coin termed ‘PUNISHER COIN’ aka ‘SPUN’,” the statement reads.
“The Commission hereby informs the public that the promoters or issuers of ‘PUNISHER COIN’ aka ‘SPUN’ are NOT REGISTERED to operate in any capacity in the Nigerian Capital Market, and also PUNISHER COIN ($PUN) is not approved by the Commission for issuance to the public.”
The commission further explained that:
“Preliminary investigations revealed that PUNISHER COIN ($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 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).”
The SEC warned that once the promoters of such coins abandon the project and halt the hype, the coin’s price usually crashes—leaving investors with significant losses.
Consequently, the Commission advised the public to stay away from the purported presale of Punisher Coin, stressing:
“Any person who invests in the scheme, does so at his/her own risk.”
The regulator also urged potential investors to always verify the authenticity of any crypto asset or investment platform:
“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 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.”
This latest warning from the SEC follows a wave of concerns about crypto-related Ponzi schemes in Nigeria. On May 1, the commission cautioned against tofro.com, a suspicious platform masquerading as a crypto trading website. In April, several Nigerians reportedly lost funds after investing in Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), another unregulated digital trading outfit.
