UK Ad Watchdog to Clamp Down on Crypto Marketing: Report

The agency is flagging crypto as a "red alert."

By Jamie Crawley

Jul 9, 2021 at 9:10 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:23 p.m. UTC

Jamie Crawley

The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) plans to tighten its monitoring of crypto marketing.

The advertising regulator said it will ramp up steps to identify and remove misleading or irresponsible ads for crypto products, the Financial Times reported Friday.
Efforts will particularly focus on online and social media platforms, with companies being warned or required to add disclaimers to their ads.
The authority has identified crypto as a "red alert," said Miles Lockwood, the ASA's director of complaints and investigations.
While the ASA has generally been reactive in this area – responding to complaints from consumers – it will now actively look for potentially misleading online ads using artificial intelligence and web scraping, the FT said.

View All Prices

DISCLOSURE

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.