- FCA Chair Chris Randall addressed the impact of celebrity cryptocurrency promotion recently
- He accurately pointed out that such promotions are usually for scammy coins
- Kim Kardashian’s promotion of Ethereum Max in June was highlighted
The Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Charles Randall, has told an economic crime conference that authorities need to find a way of regulating cryptocurrency scams. Charles Randall was speaking before the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime and brought up the subject of cryptocurrency investments, most notably the dangers of those promoted by celebrities which are more of than not of a lesser quality. Randall noted Kim Kardashian’s promotion of Ethereum Max in June, a pump and dump scam that has died a death following her promotion, and warned that young people were falling for such attentions from celebrities and losing money.
Randall Targets Kim Kardashian Ethereum Max Promotion
The FCA has never had a good work to say about cryptocurrencies, so it was hardly surprising that its Chair would. However, Randall chose a fair target in his speech, that of celebrity cryptocurrency promotions. Noting that “social media influencers are routinely paid by scammers to help them pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation”, he cited the case of Kim Kardashian, who was paid to promote Ethereum Max in June, tweeting about it to her 250 million followers.
Although she did declare it as an advert, something not all celebrity crypto marketers have done in the past, it didn’t help the coin, which was already coming off a 24-hour 20,000% pump two weeks prior – its road to death simply continued unabated:
FCA Chair Says International Cooperation is Needed
Randall accurately spoke of non-crypto natives’ “delusions of quick riches, sometimes after listening to their favourite influencers, ready to betray their fans’ trust for a fee” and warned that FOMO was drawing people into the crypto markets without first educating themselves.
Randall also noted, again accurately, that it would be impossible to force decentralised businesses like DAOs to register with the FCA before selling tokens, and said that a cooperative international effort was needed to regulate the cryptocurrency markets.
So we’re safe then, pretty much, at least for a hell of a long time.
