Spain begins cracking down on crypto ads

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Regulators in Spain are tightening rules on how social media influencers and others can advertise cryptocurrency.

Madrid’s government says it will require ‘influencers’ with more than 100,000 social media followers to give at least 10 days’ notice before posting messages urging people to invest in digital coins .

Crypto advertisers must show the content of their posts to the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), which is the Spanish equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Reuters.

Anyone promoting cryptocurrencies must also include a disclaimer warning their followers of the potential risk of investing, in accordance with the new regulations.

In November, the CNMV used its official Twitter account to issue a warning in response to football star Andrs Iniesta.

Iniesta, a former national power player FC Barcelona, ​​told his 25 million followers that he started trading cryptocurrencies using the Binance exchange.

But the CNMV responded to the tweet saying that “crypto-assets, being unregulated products, carry significant risks.”

Football star Andrs Iniesta has warned his fans against crypto ads and “cryptoassets”. Twitter/@andresiniesta8

Celebrities with huge followings on social media have been promoting cryptocurrency. In some cases, this has resulted in lawsuits.

Earlier this month, Kim Kardashian and boxer Floyd Mayweather were named in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles accusing them of tricking their fans into buying crypto as part of a a “pump and dump” program.

Kardashian and Mayweather have been accused of making a “false or misleading statement” while promoting a crypto token sold by EthereumMax, or EMAX.

Andrs Iniesta explains the potential dangers in a social media post.Twitter/@andresiniesta8

Kardashian promoted an advertisement for EthereumMax last June on her Instagram account, when she had 250 million followers.

Are you guys into crypto???? This is not financial advice but a sharing of what my friends told me about the Ethereum Max token! Kardashian wrote.

Kardashian and Mayweather’s posts helped catapult EthereumMax’s value by 1,300% before plunging to “an all-time low” just a month later, it has been claimed.

Cryptocurrency has yet to be regulated in many countries.Getty Images/Westend61

Those who purchased EthereumMax between May 14 and June 27 last year have been named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

US officials are also trying to figure out how to regulate the global cryptocurrency market which is valued at over $3 trillion.

Top economic policymakers from some of the world’s leading bodies, including the International Monetary Fund, have called for regulation of digital coins.

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