The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a warning on investments in cryptocurrencies such as Swisscoin, OneCoin, Bitcoin and others.

The agency said:

“The Commission, wishes to alert the public that none of the persons, companies or entities promoting cryptocurrencies has been recognized or authorized by it or by other regulatory agencies in Nigeria to receive deposits from the public or to provide any investment or other financial services in or from Nigeria. The public should also be aware that any investment opportunities promoted by these persons, companies or entities are likely to be of a risky nature with a high risk of loss of money, whilst others may be outright fraudulent pyramid schemes.”

The agency further clarified that there is no protection available to users or investors in these virtual currencies from financial losses if the virtual currencies fail or the companies promoting them go out of business.

The SEC urges people that they should ascertain that the entity with whom the investment or transaction is being made is authorized by the Commission or other financial services regulatory authority as applicable to provide such services.

The warning follows the recent fluctuations in bitcoin price, which dropped from a multi-year high level of 1,139 (January 04) to 751 levels (January 12) in little over a week (Bitstamp).

Nigeria, however, is not the first country to warn against OneCoin. In July 2016, the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) issued a warning saying that neither OneCoin nor the persons promoting OneCoin have been recognized or authorized by the FSMA. Later in September, the Swedish Bitcoin Foundation also issued a warning on the same.