THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the public against an unregistered “crowdfunding international platform” for cryptocurrency named BitAccelerate, BitAccelerateProject.com, BA, and BitAccelerator.

In an advisory, the commission said the entities promise returns depending on the number of referrals and membership fees collected, thus gaining new investors is crucial to the platform.

The platform claims that people may earn up to two to eight percent daily, or a total of 350% of their total investments. Investments will be sent through a robot on messaging app, Telegram.

The SEC said that investors enter a “smart contract,” where passive income may be collected as long as money is put into the platform to earn profit.

However, the commission maintains that the platform is neither registered nor does it have a license to engage in such activities.

“The public is advised not to invest or stop investing in any scheme offered by BitAccelerate/BitAccelerateProject.com/BA/BitAccelerator or any other entities using the same scheme in digital asset trading, which promises ridiculous rates of return with little or no risk,” the commission warned.

It also said penalties would be imposed on those involved as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents and on entities engaging in unauthorized transactions and activities for violating the Revised Corporation Code.

Those recruiting for these services may face sanctions and they may be criminally liable, the commission added.

In its advisory, the SEC reminded the public of the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies.

“Digital asset trading is highly speculative and involves a higher degree of risk. Hence, any promise of [a] fixed rate of lucrative return is truly ambiguous,” it warned.

The commission said it was not discouraging the public from investing in cryptocurrency, and that it was not threatening authorized businesses and projects.

The SEC said the warnings and laws “are intended for the protection of both the registered entities and the investing public from any anomalies and/or irregularities, which tend to result from any unlawful or unauthorized operations.” — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte

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