The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a stern advisory to the Nigerian public, warning against participation in the presale or promotion of a new cryptocurrency known as Punisher Coin, or $PUN, citing regulatory breaches and high susceptibility to investor fraud.
In a public notice issued on Sunday, the apex capital market regulator cautioned that Punisher Coin and its promoters have not been registered or authorized to operate within Nigeria’s capital market ecosystem, describing its ongoing presale as “unauthorized and illegal.”
“The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission has been drawn to several online publications blatantly advertising the unauthorized presale of a cryptocurrency termed Punisher Coin, also known as $PUN,” the Commission stated, specifically referencing a Daily Trust E-Paper article that suggested the coin could rival established digital assets such as Avalanche and Chainlink.
The SEC categorically disavowed any connection to or endorsement of the asset, warning that neither the coin nor its promoters have undergone any form of regulatory vetting.
“Punisher Coin aka $PUN and its promoters are not registered by the Commission to promote, launch, sell, trade or solicit investments from the Nigerian public,” the statement read.
Preliminary findings by the Commission reveal that Punisher Coin falls into the category of “meme coins”—a class of digital tokens typically devoid of any underlying utility, intrinsic value, or tangible project roadmap.
These coins, the SEC emphasized, are often propped up solely by social media hype and the promotional efforts of their issuers, making them fertile ground for pump and-dump schemes.
“Further investigation has revealed that Punisher Coin or $PUN is a meme coin. Meme coins generally have no use case or intrinsic value.
Their price movements are usually driven by social media buzz and influencer promotion, which are prone to manipulation and abrupt collapses,” the Commission noted.
Such schemes, commonly referred to as “pump and dump,” involve artificially inflating the value of a coin through aggressive promotion, only for the promoters to “dump” or liquidate their holdings at inflated prices, leaving unsuspecting investors with worthless tokens once the hype dissipates.
