SEC AT MMM’s THROAT AGAIN: WARNS NIGERIANS AGAINST INVESTING IN BITCOINS AND OTHER DIGITAL CURRENCIES

The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been relentlessly attacking MMM. The Commission gravely criticized the scheme in 2016 and invested great effort in attempting to dissuade Nigerians from participating in it.

Nothing appears to have changed even in the New Year as the Commission has resumed its criticism of the Ponzi scheme.

This time around, SEC is warning Nigerians against investing in digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Swisscoin, OneCoin and any other there might be.

Read also_MMM Returns: Nigerians Jubilate.

The Commission warning which appeared on its website on Thursday, states that none of the individuals or companies promoting the use of the currencies is recognized by it or any other regulatory agency in Nigeria.

The Commission in its warning noted thus:

“The public should be aware that any investment opportunities promoted by these persons, companies or entities are likely to be of a risky nature with a high risk of loss of money, while others may be outright fraudulent pyramid schemes.”

The Commission further stated that,

“Given that these instruments and the persons, companies or entities that promote them have neither been authorized, nor any guidelines/ regulations developed for them by any of the regulatory authorities in Nigeria, there is no protection available to users or investors in these virtual currencies from financial losses if the virtual currencies fail or the companies promoting them go out of business.”

It is interesting to note that this warning comes in the wake of the return of Nigeria’s leading Ponzi scheme, MMM Nigeria, which had earlier placed a one-month ban on all withdrawals since December 13, 2016.

MMM had, in December, suspended the scheme owing to the fact that the scheme would be reorganized in order to make it function better.

Upon resumption however, MMM has introduced the use of bitcoins as part of its payment options, citing bitcoin’s steady growth in value as a reason for participants to adopt the currency.

Nigerians are again confronted by this dilemma. Between the government and MMM, who has the interest of Nigerians at heart?