Spain has announced that influencers who advertise cryptocurrency in the country, will need to include warnings and disclose potential risks in their promotional material. This rule applies to any influencer with 100,000 followers or more.
The influencers would also need to notify the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) 10 days before running advertisements or promotions on any crypto assets. CNMV would also require them to hand in the complete details for the campaigns before they go live.
“If influencers weren’t covered there would be a backdoor to avoid regulation," the Financial Times reported, quoting CNMV chief Rodrigo Buenaventura.
"This is new terrain, for us and for them, and there will be moments of friction but that always happens when you bring in rules for something that wasn’t regulated before.”
Also Read: Storyboard | The pitfalls of influencers promoting crypto
Recently, media personality Kim Kardashian and boxer Floyd Mayweather found themselves in hot water, after they were targeted by a lawsuit accusing them of a "pump and dump" scheme.
The celebrities along with other social media influencers promoted the cryptocurrency EthereumMax, driving its prices to an all time high before the inevitable crash.
The lawsuit accused them of making false and misleading statements and profiting at the cost of their followers and fans.
Also Read: Crypto enthusiasts meet their match: Angry Gamers
Non-fungible Tokens or NFT's have also started to see massive blowbacks such as Ubisoft's NFT announcement, which was one of the most disliked videos on YouTube.
Many critics have argued that cryptocurrencies and NFT's are digital ponzi schemes, with prices that are inflated way beyond the true value of the commodity. They also question its long-term viability.
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