The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the public against dealing with Pogi Breeds International, a group of individuals that plays the popular Axie Infinity game using the investments it solicited from its clients.
Pogi Breeds, according to the SEC’s Enforcement and Investor Protection Department’s advisory, is headed by Gino Mendoza, also known as Nigo Tekashii.
The group offers its co-partnership program wherein clients are enticed to invest a minimum of P5,000 up to P250,000. Promised earnings range from P100 to P25,000 daily or 2 percent daily or 10 percent weekly earnings for 45 days. Total contract earnings ranging from P4,500 up to P225,000 or 90 percent per contract in 45 days.
Pogi Breeds assures its co-partners that the capital will be returned after 59 days or at the end of the contract.
“The co-partnership program offered by Pogi Breeds clearly falls under the definition of securities in the form of an investment contract which is mandated by Republic Act No. 8799 or the Securities Regulation Code [SRC] to be registered with the commission before these securities are offered to the public,” the SEC said.
The agency said Pogi Breeds and all its allied brands are not registered with the agency and are not authorized to solicit investments from the public since it has no prior registration and license to solicit investments from the commission as prescribed under Section 8 of the SRC. The law sets a penalty of a maximum fine of P5 million or imprisonment of 21 years or both.
“The public is hereby warned that such investment schemes are considered as securities subject to the regulatory authority of this commission. The offering and selling of securities to the public without a permit or license is a violation of Section 8.1. of the Securities Regulation Code,” it said.
SEC also warned that Axie Infinity or its developer Sky Mavis are both not registered and are not licensed to do business in the country as a branch, regional area/operating headquarters or a representative office and “they do not possess any secondary license to conduct any regulated activity within the Philippines.”
Bloomberg reported that Axie Infinity’s daily active users swelled from 30,000 in April this year to more than 1 million in August, with most logging on from developing countries hit hard by Covid, including the Philippines, Brazil and Venezuela. Originally built on the Ethereum blockchain, Axie recorded around $30 million worth of Ether transfers a day over the past month, according to Etherscan.
