FCA warns UK citizens to avoid Solana-based memecoin
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning about the Solana-based “Retardio” project, citing unauthorized financial promotions and activity targeting UK consumers.
On December 16, the FCA issued a warning against the Retardio project, saying the token may be offering or promoting financial services without the regulator's permission.
The watchdog urges consumers to only deal with FCA approved firms to ensure adequate protection.
The Retardio project, according to CryptoSlam, features a set of Solana-based non-reversible tokens (NFTs) that have reportedly generated $31 million in lifetime sales. Its related memecoin, trading under the symbol “Retardio,” is valued at around $0.08 with a market capitalization of $87 million, according to Dexscreener.
Retardio applauds back on the FCA project
According to the FCA, UK-based users of the Retardio project will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which deals with complaints between consumers and financial services businesses.
The regulator said consumers are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). “This means you cannot get your money back if the firm goes out of business,” the FCA wrote.
The FCA urges citizens to contact authorized firms. The regulator said authorized firms offer consumers greater protection when things go wrong. The Financial Services Regulator said users can check their register to make sure the company they are dealing with is authorized in the UK.
The government agency told users to report unauthorized organizations by contacting their official channels.
Memecoin and NFT project have jokingly responded to the FCA by saying it has “issued a warning against the UK financial regulator”.
Related: FCA issues discussion paper on crypto market transparency, abuse
Memecoins represent the value of attention
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Yat Siu, chairman of Animoka Brands, said memecoins hold the value of user attention, unlike traditional metrics on social platforms. He added that while the focus on social platforms doesn't clearly show the value of user-generated content (UGC), memecoins work differently.
Siu has incorporated the UGC culture into memecoins in Web3, reflecting the value of the attention they have received in their market capitalization. “If attention is a token, that's essentially what memecoins represent. And I think it's connected between them,” he said.
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