Unlicensed company 'Sidicoin' lures public to invest in ‘gold NFT’ with 4% ‘royalty’

In what has all the trappings of a scam, MyNewsGh.com has uncovered how an unregistered and unlicensed “crypto-investment” company dubbed SIDICOIN is inviting members of the general public to invest in “NFT tokens” backed by gold at 4% royalty to be paid to patrons for 12 months.

Ahead of its launch, SIDICOIN is selling its NFT tokens (backed by an alleged 25gram 99.5% real gold coin) at $6,500 on a pre-sale basis.

In a ploy to get more people to sign up, SIDICOIN says on the launch day, the Sidicoin NFT token will be sold for $9,500, in a bid to get more patrons to buy more ahead of the launch.

Sidicoin plans to sell “only 5000 tokens” – and encourages interested buyers to rush in while stock lasts.

By the estimated launch floor prices of $9,500, it is estimated that the persons behind the website if they succeed, will be controlling almost US$50,000,000.

On how it will pay the 4% royalties – which another part of the website says is 3%– Sidicoin says royalties payments are credited to beneficiaries Ethereum wallet every 30days for 12months or 1 year.

In a bid to target other potential clients outside Ghana, Sidicoin claims it can deliver its 25gram 99.5% real gold coin to a buyer anywhere in the world as the physical version of the virtual Sidicoin token purchased.

Although celebrity such as Stonebwoy has already been signed as ambassador in a bid to ride on his celebrity status and credibility, MyNewsGh.com checks from authorities indicate SIDICOIN is NOT licensed by all the state agencies in charge of the business it is engaged.

Checks from the Minerals Commission, The Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Ghana and even the Registrar Generals Department showed no element or attempt of registration by the company.

In what is likely an attempt to hide the identities of the persons behind the scheme, SIDICOIN on its official website lists one “Funky Klive” as it founder and this Funky Klive figure is described as “an astute digital technology professional with over a decade experience in tech systems creation and in academia”.

Sidicoin co-founder, another interesting name – Freaky Erikana– is described by the website as “a credible hardware tech-savvy with many years of experience in the computer and general electronics hardware space.”

A second co-founder is named Hyperhankie King who is also claimed to be “a top business professional with over a decade and half experience and global business network in commodities trading, energy and digital media products” while one Prince Fred is named “projet” manager by the website all using faceless tiger cartoons imagery associated with NFTs.

Dancehall artiste Stonebwoy has come under heavy criticism for marketing yet again a ponzi scheme for his online followers after he led them to sign up to Menzgold with his music influence along with other celebrities.

The website says the purchase of the Sidicoin NFT token which comes with the gold gives the purchases access to the exclusive club or network body (community) that offers members the right to own singular or several NFTs (Sidicoin tokens), which comes with a physical real fungible asset with exchanges via crypto Ethereum and “opensea”.

In October last year in Europe, some investors spent Millions on ‘Evolved Apes’, another NFT styled like Sidicoin and then they got scammed.

The developer behind the NFT project, ‘Evil Ape,’ suddenly disappeared along with its Twitter account, website, and $2.7 million in deposits.

A week after the project launch, the anonymous developer known as Evil Ape vanished along with the project’s official Twitter account and website. But they left traces behind on the blockchain that showed they siphoned 798 ether ($2.7 million) out of the project’s funds in multiple transfers. The funds, are derived from the initial public sale of NFTs and commissions.

What are NFTs

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded.

Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. Because each token is uniquely identifiable,

NFTs differ from most cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, which are fungible.

NFT ledgers claim to provide a public certificate of authenticity or proof of ownership, but the legal rights conveyed by an NFT can be uncertain. NFTs do not restrict the sharing or copying of the underlying digital files, do not necessarily convey the copyright of the digital files, and do not prevent the creation of NFTs with identical associated files.

NFTs have been used as a speculative asset, and they have drawn increasing criticism for the energy cost and carbon footprint associated with validating blockchain transactions as well as their frequent use in art scams.

The NFT market has also been compared to a Ponzi scheme in various reports by credible websites such as Vice and Motherboard.