The Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) warned the public against investing in virtual currency Lodi Coins as the company behind it does not have the requisite licenses from the regulators.

The commission, in a recent advisory, said that Lodi Technologies Inc. has been offering the digital assets without the required order of registration of securities and certificate of permit to offer and sell securities. SEC noted that Lodi Technologies was not registered as a virtual asset service provider and did not secure the certificate of authority as a money service business from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The regulator said that Lodi Coins were offered through various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Discord.

Investment packages amount from P12,500 to P500,000, with potential return of at least 10 times after the initial coin offering.

The company, according to its website, explained that Lodi Coins were utility tokens and not a share or security.

But the SEC, citing its US counterpart, argued that "securities law may apply to various activities, including distributed ledger technology, depending on particular facts and circumstances, without regard to the form of the organization or technology used to effectuate a particular offer or sale."

As such, the regulator said that some virtual currencies could be deemed as securities.

"Merely calling a token a ‘utility' token or structuring it to provide some utility does not prevent the token from being a security," the regulator said, noting that these tokens incorporate features of securities.