The Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission issued an illegal operator alert on online promotions advertising an unauthorized presale of a crypto coin branded “PUNISHER COIN” (also “$PUN”). The regulator stated that the promoters or issuers are not registered to operate in any capacity in the Nigerian capital market and that the coin is not approved for issuance to the public. Preliminary investigations found that PUNISHER COIN is a meme coin, which the Commission noted generally has no use case, intrinsic value or tangible projects backing it and can be susceptible to pump-and-dump schemes. The public was advised to refrain from participating in the purported presale and to verify the authenticity and registration status of crypto/virtual or digital assets, their promoters and trading platforms via the Commission’s portal before investing.