SEC Notifies Public of Illegal Crypto Exchanges

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) notifies the public of transacting with unlicensed and unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the Philippines.

This reminder from the SEC comes after the fall of international cryptocurrency giant FTX last November. Currently, FTX has $1.24 billion cash but still owes an estimated $3.1 billion that affected thousands of users and creditors with no definite possibility of recovering their money.

The SEC has said that “A number of unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges are deliberately targeting Filipino investors and borrowers through online advertisements in social media and unlawfully allowing Filipinos to access their online platforms and permit the enrollment, creation or registration of client accounts through online means,”

They add that these firms offer a variety of schemes and products that have the potential to be fraudulent and high-risk.

Cryptocurrency exchanges offer the following:

Sale of unregistered cryptocurrencies identified as securities, conversion of one cryptocurrency to another, facilitation of the issuance of unregistered token or coin offerings,  offerings of savings of cryptocurrency with a promise of an estimated or fixed return, crypto-loan offerings secured with digital assets, futures contracts, cryptocurrency derivative offers sales of token shares of corporation stocks, learning or educational platforms for sparking interest in potential customers and enabling peer to peer transactions of cryptocurrencies.

“Always remember that in case of doubt as to whether or not it is safe to transact with an online platform or entity, always check with SEC if the corporation or entity is registered or not,” mentioned the SEC.

Source: Business Mirror