Philippines Stock Exchange warns against fake blockchain investment links

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The Philippines Stock Exchange (PSE) isn’t offering any investment products related to blockchain technology or digital currencies, the bourse’s president has stated in a public warning. Any links to the exchange by purported PSE salesmen who have been luring investors in recent weeks are fake and fraudulent, the exchange warned.

According to local reports, unknown fraudsters have been contacting investors in the Philippines, claiming to be linked to the exchange. The fraudsters claim to be part of a new team created by the exchange that’s exploring emerging technologies like blockchain and digital currencies. They claim to have cooperated with several banks and financial institutions around the world.

To lure investors, the fraudsters have been promising returns of up to 30% or daily returns of up to $2,000. They further claim that they will provide a professional tutor to potential investors to teach them about investing through the program. These supposed tutors will “lead everyone to freedom of wealth,” they said.

However, as PSE President and CEO Ramon Monzon revealed, the exchange is offering no such product.

“The PSE reiterates that it does not sell cryptocurrencies and that its employees or agents do not promote, for purposes of investment, any specific stock, investment instrument or cryptocurrency,” Monzon said in an advisory this week.

Monzon urged investors to conduct thorough research before investing in any product, much more so when the product promises very high returns.

He added, “The PSE reminds the investing public to exercise prudence and due diligence in dealing with social media accounts that purportedly offer investments and represent themselves as employees or agents of the exchange.”

While it has yet to make any substantial moves in the digital currency sector, the PSE has previously claimed it intends to offer a digital asset trading platform. As CoinGeek reported in July, Monzon believes that the exchange is more suited and capable of providing digital asset trading services as it has better infrastructure and is capable of protecting investors.

ollow CoinGeek’s Crypto Crime Cartel series, which delves into the stream of groups—a from BitMEX to Binance, Bitcoin.com, Blockstream, ShapeShift, Coinbase, Ripple and 
Ethereum—who have co-opted the digital asset revolution and turned the industry into a minefield for naïve (and even experienced) players in the market.