SEC Facebook

Based on
numerous reports and
information gathered by the Commission
,
there
are
certain indi
viduals or groups of persons
enticing the public, through
a popular
social
media platform or
throug
h
their own independent websites, to invest in
MINING CITY
.
As posted online,
entities
and persons offering
, advertising, promoting
investments in
MINING CITY
describe it
a
s a
process of acquiring cryptocurrency
(Bitcoin Vault or BTCV)
throug
h the utilization of shared mining equipment located in
an off
–
site or remote datacenter, with the purchase of equipment being funded by
in
vestors who avail of
MINING CITY
contracts.
A
ccording to the
website of
MINING CITY
(MINING CITY.
COM
)
,
its CEO is
o
ne
GREGORY ROGOWSKI
. W
hile
ANTHONY AGUILAR
is
the Philippine Team Leader of
Mining City in the Philippines
. With regard
to
MINING CITY PHILIPPINES Facebo
ok
Page,
it is maintained by
one
JHON REY GREY
as
admin of
the said account.
As posted in their Webs
ite
,
Facebook page and video uploaded in YouTube
Channel, you can start a business by registering first, then you can choose from any o
f
the three (
3
)
BITCOIN VAULT PLANS
wh
ich are,
PRIMARY BTCV
($300 or
Php16,500.00)
, STANDARD BTCV
($600 or Php33,000.00)
,
BRONZE BTCV
($1,200
or Php66,000.00)
, SILVER BTCV
($2,400 or Php132,000.00)
, GOLD BTCV
($4,200
or Php231,000.00
and
PLATINUM BTCV
($12,600 or Php693,000.00)
,
accordingly.
I
nvestor
s
can earn $1.5 to $2
(Php100.00)
or up to $69 to $92
(Php5,000.00)
daily
f
or
1
1
00 days depend
ing on
what plan they get.
You can also earn from direct referral and
indirect referral from 5% up to 10% and for direct binary and indirect binary $200 or
$10.
MINING CITY
claims that its program
will continue to function even if its
website
“
www
.miningcity.com
”
is closed for any reaso
n
.
It even implied that the Government
cannot shut it down because it is decentralized
and
thus
free from any authority.
Based on the foregoing
,
MINING CITY
’s
so
–
called smart contract
s or
MINING
CITY
CONTRACTS
partake of the nature of securities in the form of
investment
contracts
under the regulatory jurisdiction of the
Commission
.
Briefly, an “
investment contract”
exists when there is an investment or placement
of money in a common enterprise with
a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived
from the efforts of others
which
is prominent in
MINING CITY
’s
scheme.
Therefore,
MINING CITY
must be duly registered with the Commission and that
any person or entity intending to offer and sell its inve
stment contract are required to
secure the necessary registration and/or license from the Commission as well.
However, per our record,
MINING CITY
is
NOT REGISTERED
with the
Commission
and
OPERATES WITHOUT THE NECESSARY LICENSE AND/OR
AUTHORITY
to solici
t, accept or take investments/placements from the public nor to
issue investment contracts and other forms of securities defined under Section 3 of the
Securities Regulation Code (SRC)
.
Likewise, its name
DO
ES
NOT APPEAR
among the registered banks, exchan
ges
or companies engaged in digital assets with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP
) in
accordance with the
GUIDELINES FOR VIRTUAL CURRENCY EXCHANGES
(
BSP
CIRCULAR NO. 944
) which requires all entities engaged in Virtual Currencies in the
Philippines to
obtain a Certificate of Registration to operate as remittance and transfer
company pursuant to the BSP rules and regulations.
Moreover, the said sc
heme employed by
MINING CITY
clearly shows indication
of a possible Ponzi Scheme where
monies from new inve
stors are used in paying “fake
profits” to
prior
investors
and is designed mainly to favor its top recruiters and prior
risk takers
and is detrimental to
subsequent members
in case of scarcity of new
investors.
Hence, the
public is advised
NOT TO INVEST
o
r
STOP INVESTING
in any scheme
offered by
MINING CITY
or such other entities engaged in
smart contracts,
cryptocurrencies and digital asset trading
that are not registered with the Commission
and the BSP.
The public is again reminded that investing in suc
h an unregulated entity lacks
investor protection because it is not covered by prudential and market conduct
requirements applicable to licensed and authorized
operations
.
Accordingly, the Commission warns all unscrupulous individuals and/or entities
that
strict penalties are imposed for v
iolations of the
Securities Regulation Code,
the Revised Corporation Code
of the Philippines
, and such other rules and
regulation enforced by the Commission
.
Those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of
such
unauthorized
entit
ies
like the operators of the FB Page
MINING CITY PHILIPPINES
in selling or
convincing people to invest in their investment scheme offered including solicitations
and recruitment through the internet may likewise be criminally prosecuted
and
penalized with a maximum fine of Five Million pesos (P5,000,000.00) or a penalty of
Twenty
–
one (21) years of imprisonment or both pursuant to Sections 28 and 73 of the
SRC.
In the same manner, those who invite or recruit others to join or invest in s
uch
venture or offer investment contracts or securities
to the public
similar to
MINING CITY
and the operators of the
MINING CITY PHILIPPINES
and
CRYPTO KNIGHT MINER
YouTube Channel
may incur criminally liability, or otherwise be sanctioned or penalized
ac
cordingly as held by the Supreme Court in the case of
SEC vs. Oudine Santos
(G.R. No.
195542, 19 March 2014).
The names of all those involved will also be reported to the Bureau of Internal
Revenue (BIR) so that the appropriate penalties and/or taxes be a
ssessed
correspondingly.
Again, it must be noted that the above laws are not aimed to hinder or pose
significant risk to businesses and cryptocurrency projects but are intended for the
protection of both the registered entities and the investing public fr
om any anomalies
and/or irregularities which tend to result from any unlawful or unauthorized
operations.
Should you have any information regarding any investment solicitation activity
by any individual or group of individuals representing
MINING CITY
, pl
ease send your
report to the EIPD at epd@sec.gov.ph.
For the guidance of the public.
Pasay City,
10
September
2020