The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria (EFCC) has reportedly declared the founder of the popular Nigerian cryptocurrency, Pinkoin, and the blokchain project, InksNation, a wanted man following a fraud case to the tune of 32 million Naira (Approx. $82, 700).
According to a press release on The Nation newspaper publication dated November 11, 2020, the regulator has put out a ‘Wanted’ section that reads:
“The Public is hereby notified that Omotade-Sparks Amos Sewanu of Inksnation whose photograph appears above is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC in a case bordering on obtaining by false pretense, names Dropping and Fraud to the tune of thirty Two million Naira Only (32,000,000) while claiming to have floated an online digital currency called “Pinkoin.”
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Inksnation presently has up to 200,000 members on their Telegram channel, and hundreds of thousands offline, as many of its members are not even online, relying on agents in various parts of the country.
The SEC Nigeria has previously flagged the products of InksNation, including Pinkoin, as illegal and warned the public about any business dealings with the company.
Bitcoin KE reached out to Senator Ihenyen, Secretary General, SiBAN, Nigeria’s Blockchain Association, for a clarification on this and received the following statement:
“On our path at SiBAN, we will continue to stand for what is legitimate, sustainable, and safe for our community and the members of the general public. If the allegation against Inksnation is found to be true, the persons I will be most worried about are the un-enlightened members of the public who may have made uninformed decisions when they decided to invest in such a project.
It is best to be cautious about investing in projects that raise too many questions than answers.
SiBAN, as Nigeria’s self-regulatory body in the blockchain space, did raise questions. The questions SiBAN raised informed its decision not to register Inksnation as a member when Inksnation applied for SiBAN membership. Our public statement concerning this remains public. In fact, concerned about investor safety, our members engaged the Inksnation community about the legitimacy and sustainability of the Inksnation project. But our genuine concerns were misinterpreted. We were attacked.
Regardless of what comes out from this episode, it tells us that stakeholders in the blockchain & crypto space must keep investing in blockchain & crypto education and awareness. I believe that this is the best way to keep the community safe and investors protected, proactively. And this is where we need community support, including support from the media such as Bitcoin KE and other media platforms in the space. We will remain vigilant.”
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RECOMMENDED READING: The Nigeria Blockchain Association Moves to Further Sanitize as Crypto Scams Escalate in Nigeria
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