SEC Facebook

The Securities and Exc
hange Commission
has received information that
individuals or group of persons representing
XUM
TOKEN, XUM
COIN, U
mcUSDTbot
(
now,
XUM/USDT/BOT
)
, XUM CHAIN, XUMEX (World Crypto Asset Exchanger), XUM
EXCHANGER
and
XUM EXCHANGE LTD
are enti
cing the public to invest in a
digital
currency
called
“
United Masa Coin
”
which is
now
called
XUM
.
Based on information gathered by the Commission,
XUM
token and XUM c
oin
are
being offered by
TBCMMP MASA MART INC
.,
MASA MART BUSINESS CENTER OPC,
MASA MART BUSINESS CENTER
and
MASA MART ENTERPRISE OPC
referred to
herein collectively as
“MASA MART
”
or
“
MMBC.”
MASA MART
together with its product cryptocurrencies
,
“UNITED MASA COIN
(UMC)”
and “XUM”
became
the
subject of
two
Advisories
1
issued by the Commission. To
date, the Advisories issued against
MASA MART
or
MMBC
are
still IN FORCE and
SUBSISTING
.
XUM, which
stands for
X
cryptocurrency
U
nited
M
asa
,
is the rebranded
UMC or
“United Masa Coin
.
2
According to its agents and members,
XUM uses two (2) symbols,
1)
XUM Token
represented by the
XUM Logo w
ith black background and 2) XUM
Coin
represented by the XUM Logo with Blue background.
1
TBCMMP SEC Advisory dated 14 February 2019 and
MMBC SEC Advisory dated 12 January 2020
2
The coin
p
romoted by TBCMMP thru
MASA MART FOREX GENERAL TRADING, MASA FOREX GENERAL
TRADING LLC., and/or MASA MART FOREX GENERAL TRADING LLC
–
UAE.
What is XUM?
To
transfer
XUM token from XUM/USDT/BOT
t
o the XUM Wallet/App, a member
must do the following:
These
cryptocurrencies
are
being promoted online thru the
following
applications/website:
a)
UMCautobot
,
XUM/
USDT/BOT
and
XUMUSDT_BOT
;
b)
XUM Wallet
App
,
in turn,
promoted by
XUM Foundation
and
XUM
Exchange Ltd.
c)
Website such as
https://
xumexx.info
,
https://
app.xumexx.com
,
https://
exchange.xumchain.com
and
https://xumchain.com
.
Agents and promoters
of XUM
token and
XUMC
oin
represent that
they are
currently worth Php 5.00
each
with a promise
of
an increase in value up to Php 50 to
70.00
by next year.
Proponents also affirm that “staking”
3
XUM token or XUM Coin (i.e.,
XUM12M15 or XUM06M6)
generates
six (6%)
or fifteen (15%
) percent reward,
respectively.
3
The act of locking cryptocurrencies to receive rewards.
As illustrated below:
It must be emphasized
that
XUM
Token and XUMCoin are
not included
among the
list of the generally accepted virtual currencies posted on the
World Coin Index
and
Coin
Market Cap
websites
as acknowledged in its website
www.xumexx.info
:
To date,
MASA MART’s
XUM Token
and
XUMCoin
are
not
convertible to cash
unlike those cryptocurrencies traded through
licensed digital asset exchange
s
or
virtual asset service providers (VASP)
regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
(BSP).
“
XUMEX (World Crypto Asset Exchanger)”
and
“XUM EXCHANGER”
are being
hyped
by
Masa Mart’s agents and promoters
to the public
as
their
soon
–
to
–
be
–
launched
exchange/“
exchanger
”
by referring
their clients to the
(1)
https://
xumexx.info
(2)
https://
app.xumexx.com
(3)
https://
exchange.xumchain.com
and
(4)
https://xumchain.com
websites.
Based on the foregoing, XUM
Token and XUM
Coin partake
of the nature of
securities in the form of investment contract
s
due to its centralized nature
and therefore
subject to the regulatory authority of this Commission.
Further,
it is alarming that
XUM
Token and XUM Coins
are being
entirely minted
or created
by Masa Mart
and its
operators who control their supply and arbitrarily dictate their prices
and therefore
have
no underlying value and
have
no legitimate use case
.
Further, a
pplying the
Howey Test
,
4
the schemes presented by
MASA MART
as we
stated in our Advisories
,
involve
the offering for public sale of securities
in th
e form of
investment contracts
as
it
entices
unsuspecting
invest
ors to place
their monies
on
its
investment packages in
cluding
, among others,
XUM TOKEN, XUM
COIN,
U
mcUSDTbot
now XUM/USDT/BOT, XUM CHAIN, XUMEX (World Crypto Asset Exchanger), XUM
EXCHANGER
and
XUM EXCHANGE LTD.,
in
lieu of passive income.
T
hat
assuming
XUM Token
and
XUM
C
oin
are
classified as cryptocurrencies
notwithstanding their
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 circumstances surrounding their issuance, follow the
nature of a security as defined by Section 3.1 of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC)
.
In the
“facts and circumstances” doctrine enunciated by
the
US SEC in its
investigative report in “The DAO” case
,
5
it ruled that
“securities law may apply to various
activities, including distributed ledger technology, depending on particular facts and
circumst
ances, without regard to the form of the organization or technology used to
effectuate a particular offer or sale.”
Hence
, Section 8 of the SRC requires that the said offer and sale of such securities
must be duly registered with the Commission and
th
e concerned corporation and/or its
agents must have appropriate registration and/or license to sell such securities to the
public.
However, per record
s
of the Commission,
MASA MART FOREX GENERAL
TRADING,
MASA FOREX GENERAL TRADING LLC.,
MASA MART FOREX GENERAL
TRADING LLC
–
UAE
referred
to
herein as
“MASA FOREX
,
” XUM EXCHANGE LTD.
and
XUM
FOUNDATION
,
a
re
NOT REGISTERED
as a corporation or partnership with the
Commission
and have
NO SECONDARY LICENSE
to solicit, accept or take
4
Power Homes Unlimited vs. SEC
(G.R. No. 164182,
February 26, 2008)
5
Release No. 81207;
July 25, 2017
, re:
Report of Investigation Pursuant to Section 21(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934: The DAO
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,
XUM TOKEN XUMCOIN
and its operator,
MASA MART FOREX GENERAL TRADING LLC
,
XUM
EXCHANGE LTD.
and
XUM
FOUNDATION
,
are not
registered
as
Virtual Asset Service
Providers (VASP) with the Bangko Sentral ng Plilipinas under Circular No. 1108, series of
2021 or the
Guidelines for V
irtual Asset Service Providers.
Moreover,
as stated
,
UMC/
XUM
is
NOT TRADED
in recog
nized cryptocurrency
exchanges
and
N
OT INCLUDED
among the list of the generally
–
accepted virtual
currencies as posted on the
World Coin Index
and
Coin Market Cap
websites
.
As no open exchange
allow the trading of
XUM TOKEN
and
XUM
COIN
,
their
operators
seemingly
manage their
own digital exchange platform contrary to Sections 32
of the SRC on the “
Prohibition on Use of Unregistered Exchange.”
Nevertheles
s,
XUM TOKEN XUMCOIN
investors
u
tilize
social media websites
in
offering and
selling their
UMC and/or XUM
du
e to lack of trading options
,
le
a
d
ing
MASA
MART
t
o organize online merchant stores and incorpo
rate other entities that accept
UMC
and/or XUM s
as a mode of
payment for any transactions.
Thus, the
public is advised
NOT TO INVEST
or
STOP INVESTING
in any scheme
offered by any entities operating under
XUM TOKEN XUMCOIN
and
such other entities engaged in similar activities or initial coin
offerings and digital asset trading
whi
ch are not compliant with the BSP and the
Commission.
The public must be wary that
any
promise of ridiculous rates of return with little
or no risks is an indication of a
Ponzi Scheme
where monies from new investors are used
in paying fake “profits” to ea
rlier investors. Also, any promise that defies the normal
financial logic is surely unreliable and sketchy.
The public is again
WARNED
that those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or
agents of
such unauthorized entities
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 o
f imprisonment or both
pursuant to Sections 28 and 73 of the SRC.
Further, those who invite or recruit others to join or invest in such venture or offer
investment contracts or securities to the public may incur criminally liability, or
otherwise be sanc
tioned or penalized accordingly 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 correspondingly
assessed.
Should you have any infor
mation regarding any investment
–
solicitation activity by
any individual or group of individuals representing any entities operating under
XUM TOKEN XUMCOIN
and
all
other entities
operating under
the umbrella of the brand
MASA MART
, please send your report to the
EIPD at epd@sec.gov.ph.
For the guidance of the public.
Pasay City,
17 June
2021