SEC Facebook

Based on information gathered by the Commission
,
the e
n
tities
operating
under
name
THE BILLION COIN
(
TBC
)
by
KRIS KRINGLE
are
engaged in
inv
estment
–
taking activities
in the Philippines
which are
NOT AUTHORIZED
by the
Commission
.
TBC
promotes
its “
TBC
oin
”
a
s
a
true and decen
tralized cryptocurrency
that
aims to
revolutioniz
e
the global financial system
in order to eradicate world poverty
.
U
nlike
Bitcoin
and other cryptocurre
ncies which strictly
follow the market
–
driven norm
s
,
the value of
TB
Coin
is
said to be
user
–
based
because
its price
apparently
increase
s depending
on
the number of
its
users
/holders
or investors
.
As
such,
TBC
called it as an “Abundance
–
based Cryptocurrency.”
As posted online,
TBC
claims that
the value of
its
TBC
oin
will
never drop
and shall
continuously
increase
by One to Five Percent (1%
–
5%)
daily
un
til it
finally
reaches
One Billion Euros
(
€
1,000,000,000.00) per One
TBC
oin
(1 TBC)
.
To wit
:
Basically,
TBC
devises
its own
parameter in generating the value of its
TB
Coin
based on the total number of
TBC
’s
investors multiplied by One Euro (€ 1)
which means that if
TBC
gathered One Billion (1,000,000,000)
investors
, each
TBC
oin
will
be
worth
One Billion Euros
(€ 1,000,000,000.00)
correspondingly
.
Aside from the foregoing,
TBC
also offers a number of investment packages
in the Philippines
ranging from One Hundred Pesos to Twenty
–
Five Thousand Pesos
(Php 100.00
–
Php 25,000.00)
with a return of One Hundred Percent (100%) every
Twenty
–
Five (25) days
with additional bonuses and leverages
intended to entice
its investors to increase their invest
ments and to encourage them to invite more
members in order to generate more income. To illustrate:
Accordingly,
the scheme
s
presented by
TBC
involves the offering and sale of
securities, in t
he form of investment contracts
to the public
because it
entices
them
to invest their monies on
its
TBCoin
and other investment packages
in lieu of passive
income
and whether
the
TBCoin
be treated
a
s a
cryptocurrency
irrespective of its
unique characteristics
,
the
SEC ADVISORY
on
Initial Coin Offerings
and
Virtual
Currency
posted
08 January 2018
specified that
some
virtual currencies, based on
the facts and circumstan
ces surrounding their issuance
,
follow the nature of a
security as defined by Section 3.1 of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC)
.
Hence
,
Section 8 of the
same Code
requires that
the
said
offer and sale of
such
securities must be duly registered with the Commission
and
the
concerned
corporation and/or its agents
must
have appropriate registration and/or license to sell
such securities to the
public
.
However, p
er record of the Commission
,
TBC
and its operator,
KRIS
KRINGLE
are
NOT REGISTERED
as a corporation or partnership
with the
Commission
and
have
NO SECONDARY LICENSE
to solicit, 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)
.
L
ikewise
,
the names
THE BILLION COIN
and
KRIS KRINGLE
DO NOT
APPEAR
among the registered banks, exchanges 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 C
urrencies
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
TBCoin
is
NOT
INCLUDED
among the list of
the generally
accepted
virtual currencies
as
posted
on the
World Coin Index
and
Coin Market Cap
websites
despite
TBC
’s assertion that it is
at par with the other leading
cryptocurrencies
in the market.
Worst, it appears that
no open exchanges allow the trading of
TBCoins
so
TBC
seemingly
manages
its own digital exchange platform
contrary to Section
32 of
the SRC on the
“
Prohibition on Use of Unregistered Exchange
.
”
Nevertheless, its investors usually use the social media websites
in selling
their
TBCoins
for a lesser amount due to lack of trading options which led
TBC
to
organize online merchant stores and other entities that accepts
TBCoin
s
as a mode
of payment for any transactions.
Thus
, t
he
public is advised
NOT TO INVEST
or
STOP INVESTING
in any
sche
me offered by
any entities operating under
THE BILLION COIN
and
KRIS
KRINGLE
or such other
entities engaged in
similar activities or initial coin offerings
and digital asset trading
which
are not
compliant
with the BSP and the Commission.
The public must
be wary
that
a
ny
promise
of
ridiculous rates of return with
little or no risks
is an indication of
a
Ponzi Scheme
where monie
s from new
investors are used in
pay
ing
fake “profits” to earlier investors
.
Also, any promise
that
defies the normal financial logic is surely unreliable and sketchy.
It must be clear that
entities
engaged in such
activities
likely tend to disappear
shortly
to the prejudice of their
stakeholders
.
Consequently
, the
Commission encourages the
public to be prudent in
mak
ing or placing their monies on
these
entities
e
specially during th
is pandemic
.
Violators are
warned that
aside from the strict penalties imposed
by the
Commission
for violations of the
Securities Regulation Code, the Revised
Corporation Code, and such other rules and regulation
it enforces
, the
Bayanihan to
Heal as One Act
(
Republic Act No. 11469
) also
punishes
those participating in
cyber incidents that make use or take advantage of the
current crisis situation to prey
on the public through scams, phis
h
ing, fraudulent emails, or other similar acts
.
In addition
, t
hose who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of
such
unauthorized
entities
in selling or convincing people to invest
in the
ir
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 T
wenty
–
one (21) years of imprisonm
ent or
both pursuant to
Section
s 28 and
73 of the SRC.
Further
, those wh
o invite or recruit others to join or invest in such
venture or
offer investment contracts or secu
rities to the public may incur
c
riminally liability
,
or
otherwise be
sanct
ioned or p
enalized accordingly
as held
by the Supreme Court in
the case of
S
EC
vs. Oudine Santos
(G.R. No. 195542,
19 March
2014)
.
T
he 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 correspondingly
assessed.
Should you have any information regarding any investment
solicitation
activity
by any individual
or group of individuals representing
any entities operating under
THE BILLION COIN
and
KRIS KRINGLE
,
please
send your report to the EIPD at
epd@sec.gov.ph.
For the guidance of the public.
Pasay City, 14
April
2020