The Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC Nigeria) has put out a cautionary statement warning the public of illegal products of InksNation, the most popular being Pinkoin, a crypto scam in Nigeria.
According to the regulator, the activities of IBSmartify, the registered brand name behind the projects, which is promoting a blockchain known as iBledger (iBcashcryptocurrency) and InksNation are not registered or regulated by the commission.
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Sources close to BitcoinKE have said A&D Forensics, which recently partnered with Chainalysis, the worlds largest blockchain forensics firm, informed SEC Nigeria and the accompanying statement.
The regulator has warned:
In view of the above, the general public is hereby WARNED that any person dealing with the said entity and others in the same business in any manner whatsoever, does so at his/her own risk. ~ SEC Nigeria
The warning comes just days after SiBAN, Nigeria’s Blockchain Association, a self-regulatory body in the country, put out a public statement warning the public that InksNation is not a registered member of SiBAN.
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In an exclusive with BitcoinKE, SiBAN Sec-Gen, Senator Ihenyen, said:
SEC Nigeria’s position on InksNation also IBSmartify couldn’t have been different. Based on the provisions of the Investments and Securities Act 2007, SEC is in a position to regulate public offers of investments and securities to Nigerians.
“Apart from confirming that InksNation or iBSmartify is not registered with SEC, SEC has declared the InksNation product ‘illegal.’ Consequently, SEC has warned the general public that dealing with InksNation is at their own risk. SiBAN saw this risk–very high risk–earlier and immediately alerted the members of the public. By paying older investors with newer investors’ funds without selling any product or service from which profit is redistributed, the InksNation’s scheme has an obvious Ponzi scheme feature.
As Nigeria’s self-regulatory blockchain association, SiBAN will continue to raise awareness and enlighten members of the community against illegal activities in the space. Hopefully, people will listen before it becomes too late.” ~ Secretary General, SiBAN
In a statement on its website, SiBAN said:
When we raised an anti-scam alert through our Twitter channel about Inksnation, it was squarely based on the information available to the SiBAN Secretariat and the SiBAN community about the Inksnation project whose activities have been reported to SiBAN. Regardless of the outburst from Inksnation and its followers or members, SiBAN’s position is that members of the blockchain community and the general public should BEWARE of Inksnation project.
We have labelled it a scam because it has a Ponzi scheme model, whether the promoters and followers concede to this reality or not. Sooner or later, the promoters and their followers will come to realize this, if they do not already do.
BEWARE OF PINKOIN (2)
@Inksnation_
claims that #Pinkoin has a market cap of over $200 billion ($206 billion by 15 June). This is more than #bitcoin ($over 173billion) and #Ethereum (over $26billion) market caps. SCAM. No trade volume; no listing on exchange. #sibanscamalert pic.twitter.com/IuYFyOy4bL— SIBAN (@OfficialSiban) June 16, 2020
SiBAN aims to raise awareness against any projects considered unhealthy for the growth and development of Nigeria’s blockchain and cryptocurrency space, especially projects that give the emerging blockchain industry a bad name.
There is no doubt that the efforts self-regulatory organizations like SiBAN in this regard, with the support from SEC Nigeria, are helping ensure the space is safe and healthy.
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