The ASA stated that promotional materials must make it clear that past performance was not an indication of the future behavior of assets.
The UK’s independent advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), took another step against crypto-related advertising campaigns in the country, forcing several large industrial companies to remove their ads.
Seven advertising materials were banned by the advertising regulator as irresponsible, as the ads took advantage of the inexperience of consumers and did not adequately represent the risk of investing in digital assets.
Popular cryptocurrency firms such as Coinbase, Kraken, eToro, Exmo, crypto exchange Luno and crypto broker Coinburp were on the receiving end of the ASA’s ruling against ad violations. The regulator also issued similar rulings against the multinational pizza chain Papa John’s.
In particular, the ASA spoke out against a paid Facebook advertisement published by Coinbase in July 2021, calling it a “misleading advertisement”. In the text of the advertisement it was said that “five pounds in Bitcoin in 2010 would be worth over 100,000 pounds in January 2021”.
ASA argued that the ad implied that there would be a similar guaranteed increase in the value of Bitcoin over the next decade. The promotional material of Coinbase Europe “did not make it clear that past performance was not necessarily a guide to the future“, so is the ASA.
Kraken operator Payward has come under fire for its digital poster, which was displayed at Lindon Bridge Station in August 2021. ASA pointed out that the risk warning on the promotional material was not appropriate because the disclaimer was only displayed for a very short time:
“The risk warning ran for only one second at the beginning of a 20-second ad and we felt that it provided the consumer with a large amount of information that would not be fully read or understood, even if it was seen at all.“
The ASA has issued several similar rulings against crypto advertising campaigns that were considered misleading last year. Ads from Coinfloor and Luno were previously discontinued as part of the ASA’s raid.