The long arm of responsibility

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Cryptocurrency has held the captivity of a growing number of investing people all over the world and in this country as well. In fact, India stands head and shoulders above all other nations in the world as far as cryptocurrency investors are concerned. According to a recent report of platform BrokerChooser, there are over 10 crore crypto investors in India while the US ranks a distant second with about 2.74 crore. The sheer numbers make India a happy hunting ground for cryptocurrency exchanges and any other type of service related to investing in crypto. To tap into the boundless possibilities exchanges are other companies have stepped up advertising in both print and electronic media in the country.

It is against this backdrop of an explosion of marketing communication that the Advertising Standards Council of India has said that celebrities who are endorsing services that are related to cryptocurrency must conduct due diligence before making claims on behalf of the companies. While there has been much debate about celebs endorsing different products and services in general, cryptocurrency forms a especially sensitive zone simply because the government is yet to draw up a legislation around this emerging asset class.

Cryptocurrency has emerged as one of the most exciting assets in the modern world that is drawing investors, especially youngsters. It has regularly grabbed headlines with fantastic returns that has, in turn, attracted even more investors. However, in the absence of legislative and regulatory strategy around it, investors are not protected in any manner. Experts, too, are not sure what factors influence rise and fall of the prices in this domain.

Therefore, any advertisement supporting investment in cryptocurrency should contain emphatic and intelligible warnings to the investors about the risk factors. The risk factors should not be perfunctory and should not be hidden in very small type or run so quickly in TV advertisements that they don’t register in the minds of investors. If celebrities are used to endorse the service, they should be completely aware of the implications of the risks of the investments that the asset class entails. Else it would amount to playing with the hard-earned money of the common man.