THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a warning against unlicensed entity Align Assets for offering unauthorized investment schemes.
“The advisory is prompted by numerous inquiries from the public who would like to know whether or not an entity called Align Assets is registered with this commission and whether or not Align Assets has a secondary license to solicit investments/placements from the public,” the corporate regulator said.
Based in the United Kingdom, Align Assets is said to be a “decentralized” trading platform. Reports collected from the public and online sources say that the entity is not supervised or handled by a person or a group, but is instead headed by a robot or a “bot.”
The bot conducts the trading activities. It offers investors services that convert investments to digital currency or bitcoin.
The scheme promises a three percent return every working day, or a total profit of 150% in 50 working days. Members with referrals are promised as much as five percent per direct referrals and 0.5% for indirect invites.
Align Assets is not authorized to collect or offer investments to the public since “it has not secured prior registration and/or license from the commission as prescribed under Section 8 and 20 of the Securities Regulation Code.”
The SEC also said that Align Assets is not registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to engage in digital assets. The Guidelines for Virtual Currency Exchanges of the BSP requires all entities in the Philippines engaged in businesses in virtual currency to get a certificate of registration to operate as remittance and transfer company.
Align Assets is also not registered as a crowdfunding intermediary nor as a funding portal with the SEC.
The commission reminded the public to conduct due diligence on the company before diving into investment programs. The SEC also told would-be investors to avoid investments “offering unrealistic returns.”
The SEC calls on the public to report groups or individuals who are offering unlicensed investment programs to the commission’s Enforcement and Investment Protection Department via epd@sec.gov.ph. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
