The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has created guidelines for virtual digital asset advertising in the wake of the increased popularity of cryptocurrencies in India. According to broker discovery and comparison platform BrokerChooser, India has the biggest number of cryptocurrency traders in the world, with 10.07 crore investors. Cryptocurrency exchanges have recently begun aggressive advertising in order to attract more consumers. The digital asset exchanges spend crores on advertising, from enlisting a famous Bollywood actor for a television commercial to promoting it through the most popular content providers.
These advertisements, according to the ASCI, frequently fail to fully convey the danger connected with bitcoin and NFTs. The body issued new recommendations to guarantee that these advertisements do not take advantage of customers’ lack of awareness about these financial products.
The following disclaimer must appear in all commercials for VDA products, VDA exchanges, or ads showing VDAs. “Crypto goods and non-fiduciary tokens are unregulated and can be extremely dangerous.” According to the ASCI, “there may be no regulatory redress for any losses resulting from such transactions.”
The disclaimer should be put on a plain background at the end of the advertising in the video. A voice-over must accompany the disclaimer in writing. According to the standards, the voice-over should be done at a natural speaking pace and not rushed. The disclaimer must be spoken at the end of the advertising in audio format.
A disclaimer like this must be included in both the caption and any picture or video attachments in social media posts. The disclaimer in the caption must appear at the top of the post.
“Where social media posts or advertisements have restrictions on text in the static picture, the disclaimer must be carried upfront in the caption before the fold,” the ASCI added.
The disclaimer will need to be expressed at the end of the narrative for social media stories that vanished in less than 24 hours. The condensed disclaimer “Crypto goods and NFTs are unregulated and dangerous” must be included in formats with character limits, followed by a link to the full disclaimer.
The disclaimer must be written in the advertisement’s primary language, the body mentioned.
Consumers identify the phrases “currency,” “securities,” “custodian,” and “depositories” with regulated products, thus they may not be used in marketing for virtual digital asset products or services, it noted.
No advertisement may suggest that VDA products or digital asset trading can help with money issues, personality issues, or other issues. Nothing in the advertisement should minimise the category’s hazards.
Every advertisement for VDA products must state the advertiser’s name and provide a simple means to contact them (phone number or email). No advertisement may make any promises or guarantees about the future increase in profits, the ASCI said.
“Since this is a risky category, celebrities or prominent personalities who appear in VDA advertisements must take special care to ensure that they have done their due diligence about the statements and claims made in the advertisement, so as not to mislead consumers,” the advertisement body added.
All advertisements released or published on or after April 1 will be subject to the guidelines. After April 15, all previous advertisements must include new standards and disclaimers.
