- The UK’s advertising watchdog has told 50 crypto companies to change their adverts
- The adverts were on the cusp of breaking recently toughened crypto advertising laws
- The ASA recently called misleading crypto adverts a “red light priority”
The UK’s advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), has written to 50 cryptocurrency companies instructing them to review their adverts in order to make sure they don’t contravene rules when targeting new customers. The ASA has had cause to take down cryptocurrency adverts in the past, and while this enforcement notice shows that not all are following suit yet, there is at least a move by crypto companies to stay within the laws.
ASA Cracks the Whip
The ASA announced yesterday that it had issued the enforcement notices, which amounted to an instruction for the recipients to “review their ads and to ensure they understand and are complying with the rules so that consumers are treated fairly”, notifying them of the repercussions if they don’t:
The Enforcement Notice provides guidance to the crypto industry on how to stick to the rules and warns that we will monitor for compliance and implement sanctions if we do not see improvements.
UK crypto companies have to be clear in their adverts that cryptocurrencies are unregulated in the UK, that the value of users’ investments are variable and can go down, and that investment decisions are not “trivial, simple, easy or suitable for anyone”. They must also not imply that crypto investments are low risk and must not induce FOMO, which is something that many crypto companies have been guilty of in the past.
Red Light Priority
Last summer, the ASA labeled crypto adverts a “red alert priority” and it seems that they have been good to their word, with several crypto adverts being banned and enforcement action now taken against those on the cusp of the laws.
