Authorities claim that many cryptocurrency advertisements are misleading investors.

During the 2017 Bitcoin price rally, the cryptocurrency’s value stood along the line with an ounce of gold for the first time. After the massive surge, Bitcoin, along with many other digital tokens in the market, attained mainstream adoption. On the other hand, the underlying blockchain technology also gained popularity across many industry verticals. Four years since then, 2021 seems to have developed a resistance against cryptocurrencies owing to the adversaries it carries. Yes, governments across the globe are trying to impose regulations against cryptocurrency advertisements to prevent investors from believing what they portray.

Bitcoin’s popularity over the years is no joke. In just a decade, the disruptive financial model has managed to outperform the traditional ecosystem. In 2021, it is not just Bitcoin that is on the top. Major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, etc are also racing towards the first place, giving tough competition to BTC. On the other hand, we have famous stablecoins like Tether and USD Coin and memecoins like Shiba Inu and Dogecoin stealing the stage. Although digital tokens have opened new doors to investors, it has also led to scams and insecurities. Government officials have been hard on cryptocurrency advertisement for quite some time now. They are constantly keeping a close watch on social media and other modes of promotions to reap off misleading cryptocurrency advertisements. In a similar move, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has recently banned seven ads in crypto red alert.

ASA Bands Seven Cryptocurrency Advertisements for Taking Advantage of Consumers

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned seven cryptocurrency advertisements including promotions by Papa John’s and some Facebook ads. The watchdog has said that they show ‘red-alert priority’ to cryptocurrency ads that don’t fully comply with the rules and pose the risk of investing.

ASA is also up to creating new advertisement guidelines, specifically for cryptocurrencies, to avoid adversaries. The agency said the advertisements were ‘banned for irresponsibly taking advantage of consumers’ inexperience and for failing to illustrate the risk of the investment.’ The banned advertisements were from companies such as Coinbase Europe, Papa John’s GB, Exmo Exchanges, Payward, Luno Money, Coinburp, and eToro.

Papa John’s ad caught the eye as it stated ‘Save EURO15 when you spend EURO30 or more and get EURO10 worth of Bitcoin from Luno.’ They also promoted ‘free Bitcoin worth EURO10.’ However, the Pizza chain store declined the allegations and told they did the promotion as part of their annual celebration of ‘Bitcoin Pizza Day’. They also claimed that the promotion did not make any comment on cryptocurrency or its sustainability. On the other hand, Kraken has displayed a cryptocurrency advertisement at London Bridge station. Although the ad had a big disclaimer, ASA has said that it is not clear.

After imposing back-to-back bans on major cryptocurrency advertisements, ADA said that they are on track to update the guidance of cryptoasset ads next year.