On Wednesday, the ASCI issued a set of ad guidelines for cryptocurrency products and NFTs.
Furthermore, The guidelines apply to all adverts released or published on or after April 1.
The disclaimers issued by ASCI read, “Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions.”
Ad guidelines issued for cryptocurrency
The Advertising Standards Council of India toned down the commercials for cryptocurrency products claiming convenient trading, fixed returns, easy money, and more.
The ad guidelines issued for cryptocurrency effective from April 1:
- A standardized disclosure needs to be carried in print/visual/audio advertisements. The disclosure read: “Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions.”
- The council has specified the size of print to be used for the disclosure and the manner in which it should be broadcast through the audio-visual medium.
- In social media posts, such a disclaimer must be carried in the caption as well as any picture or video attachments.
- The disclaimer must be made in the dominant language of the advertisement.
- The words “currency”, “securities”, “custodian” and “depositories” may not be used in advertisements as consumers associate these terms with regulated products.
- Virtual digital assets must not be compared to any regulated asset class.
- No advertisement shall contain statements that promise or guarantee future increase in profits.
- No advertisement may show that understanding virtual digital asset products is easy or downplay risks.
- Advertisements that provide information on the cost or profitability of virtual digital products shall contain clear, accurate, sufficient and updated information.
Furthermore, the Chairman of ASCI Subhash Kamath said in the release, “We had several rounds of discussion with the government, finance sector regulators, and industry stakeholders before framing these guidelines.”
He added that there is a need to make consumers aware of the risks, “Advertising of virtual digital assets and services needs specific guidance, considering that this is a new and as yet an emerging way of investing.”
The cryptocurrency industry welcomes new ad guidelines issued by ASCI
While the crypto industry welcomes the new ad guidelines, the guidelines came after the 30% tax on VDAs in Budget 2022.
Moreover, The cryptocurrency industry has accommodated the new guidelines as they provide clarity.
Furthermore, it helps to understand the crypto ecosystem better as the industry evolves into a mature phase.
CEO of Buyucoin, Shivam Thakral, says, “We are glad that finally we have clear advertising guidelines from ASCI for crypto advertising in India. If we look at the existing crypto advertisements, they are already carrying risk-related disclaimers for the investors as mentioned in the latest ASCI guidelines. We feel that the advertising guidelines should be common for asset-based investments with clear focus on communicating the associated risks to investors. The clarity on advertisement guidelines will encourage crypto service providers to create annual media plan which will boost the revenues for the advertising industry. The advertising guidelines are based on our current understanding of crypto ecosystem and are expected to evolve as the industry enter a more mature phase.”
Lastly,
As the ASCI issues new ad guidelines for cryptocurrency, the industry hopes for clarity. The guidelines clearly state that the ads for VDA products must be explicit regarding the advertiser’s name, provider, and contact information.
Furthermore, the ad and information must be presented in layman’s language that the average consumer quickly understands.
Also Read – Digital-asset universe may benefit from dipped coin prices