CNBC reported on the 1st (local time) that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has detected 11 people in the virtual currency pyramid and Ponzi scheme and filed a civil lawsuit.

According to this, they are accused of collecting more than $300 million (about 390 billion won) from millions of individual investors by creating a “distributed smart contract platform” called “Posage.”

Poseage is known to be a platform that supports transactions of individual investors through ‘smart contracts’ operated based on Ethereum, Tron, and Binance blockchain.

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However, the SEC called Poseage “a textbook pyramid and Ponzi scheme” in its warden.


Poseage is a pyramid scam because “the main way investors make money at Poseage is to recruit others to participate in Poseage.”

In addition, the SEC pointed out that it is operating in a typical Ponzi scheme as new investors’ assets are paid to existing investors.

SEC said Poseage actively promotes smart contracts, but does not sell products that can actually be consumed.

Since Poseage was launched in January 2020, regulators around the world have tried to stop Poseage’s operation several times, CNBC said.

In September of that year, Philippine securities authorities first ordered Poseage to suspend and suspend operations, and Montana securities authorities also took the same action in March 2021.

Each time, Poseage denied these allegations and continued to promote their business.

Of the 11 people who filed the lawsuit by the SEC, four were the founders of Poseage and three were marketers who promoted Poseage on their social media platforms.

Meanwhile, Binance US, the U.S. subsidiary of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, will abolish the listing of Amplifier (AMP) coins as of the 15th, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

Amplifier Coin is one of nine cryptocurrencies that SEC classified as “security” in the process of investigating allegations of unregistered securities transaction brokerage by Coinbase, a large cryptocurrency exchange.

According to the cryptocurrency information site Coin Market Cap, the amplifier is a so-called “job coin” with a market capitalization of $400 million (about 520 billion won) and a price of less than 1 cent per unit.

Although SEC has unofficially stated that Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and former Chairman Jay Clayton believe that virtual currency is mostly securities.

Under the U.S. Securities Act, a so-called “howey test” is considered to be securities if there is a joint business ▲ money invested in the business, ▲ expectation of profits from investment, and ▲ if the profits come from the efforts of the promoter or a third party.

Binance said, “Our listing and delisting procedures are designed to respond to market and regulatory developments.”