🤦🏾‍♂️🚫 Is The UK Banning Cryptocurrency Advertisements ?? 🤦🏾‍♂️🚫

Welcome to the episode 24 of the 2nd season of “WE WERE ON A BREAK” - Ross Voice. The series where the host, Stephen Brent Sargeant (Compliance Consultant to Bitfinex) talks to industry professionals during the CoronaVirus (COVID-19) quarantine and gains industry insights and expertise. It’s been a few months since we had a guest on our show so we decided to bring on two UK Crypto compliance specialist to discuss the recent rulings by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and potential influence from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Youtube - https://lnkd.in/dcdNxbjf

In this episode the host, Stephen Brent Sargeant talks with Shelley Schachter-Cahm (Global Head of Compliance at Mode App) and Tom Bere-Brown (Governance & Compliance Intern) about the uphill battle companies are going to have when including cryptocurrency in their advertisements and what the impact will be on the crypto community going forward. If you are in the UK or work with companies that have UK operations, this is probably an episode to tune into and make sure you are on the right track when it comes to promotions.

**This interview was recorded on January 26, 2022
**Disclaimer**
The views and opinions expressed in this episode (and all episodes) are those of the host and the guests. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of their employers, contractors or any organization they may be affiliated with now or in the future.

Discussion Topics:
UK’s advertising Regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) looked into a complaint against Papa John’s free Bitcoin advertisement based on the promotion being irresponsible and taking advantage of the lack of consumer’s experience with cryptocurrency

Coinbase Ad referencing the cost of Bitcoin in 2010 and the amount it had increased and customers should start investing now also attracted a complaint from ASA for not illustrating the risk of the investment and also misleading statements of their competition

Short space of time ASA has targeted crypto promotions, potentially the extra scrutiny is due to influencer promotions that may be misleading the general public

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) didn’t have (until AFTER this was recorded)have current mandate to regulate the financial promotions for crypto assets; their mandate is still unclear.

Crypto companies may feel like they are being specifically targeted more so than their traditional financial institution contemporaries

How will the FCA determine what are credible crypto assets that can promote in a certain way and how does that effect competition in the market

The FCA has influence on several jurisdictions that look to them for regulatory leadership and these emerging rules could be adopted around the world

Can’t crypto companies steal a book from the Viagara marketing book and use the downfalls of crypto as the allure of their advertisements

Can crypto companies start looking to social media and other non-traditional advertisements or is the tube (subway) a key anchor for an omni-channel advertisement strategy

When can we expect regulations / guidelines from the FCA that will help give the go ahead for innovation and a new wave of crypto advertisements (we now know this will be “summer 2022)

Can we borrow some best practices from the insurance industry and could it be just the solution that can keep both sides happy including the consumers

Stephen Brent Sargeant (Host)
LinkedIn (Best way to reach me) - linkedin.com/in/stephen-brent-sargeant-cams
Instagram (Everyday type stuff) https://www.instagram.com/stephen_b_sargeant/
Business Related Matters (Let’s Collab): stephenbsargeant@gmail.com

Shelley Schachter-Cahm (Host)
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/shelley-schachter-cahm-967434
Website (company) https://www.modeapp.com/
Website (personal) https://www.facebook.com/TheToyDrop/
Email: shelley_schachter@hotmail.com

Thomas Bere-Brown (Host)
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/thomasberebrown

Resources
ASA article on their general approach to Crypto: https://www.asa.org.uk/news/digital-gold-cartoon-dogs-and-the-moon-advertising-cryptocurrencies.html

Potential Relationship with ASA and FCA in article: https://beincrypto.com/uk-mps-call-for-more-crypto-regulation-to-protect-investors/

UK Government announcement about future crypto asset promotion legislation - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-strengthen-rules-on-misleading-cryptocurrency-adverts

Singapore’s Clampdown on crypto ads - https://www.reuters.com/technology/singapore-cbank-issues-guidelines-discourage-crypto-trading-by-public-2022-01-17/

FCA consultation on financial promotions https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/consultation-papers/cp22-2-strengthening-our-financial-promotion-rules-high-risk-investments-includingcryptoassets