Spain: new rules for crypto advertising and influencers

Spain has issued a new ad hoc regulation for cryptocurrency-related advertisements. 

This is reported by Reuters, stating that the new rules also apply to influencers on social media. 

Crypto advertising in Spain: approval will be needed

The Spanish government has issued an official bulletin stating that advertisers and companies marketing crypto assets will have to inform the public agency CNMV (Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores), which oversees financial markets, at least 10 days before launching advertising campaigns aimed at an audience of 100,000 people or more.

The new regulations will come into effect from mid-February, and will aim to be able to specifically monitor crypto asset advertisements. 

In Spain, there have been problems in the past due to promotions related to cryptocurrency investments, or systems to earn cryptocurrencies, and this is probably why the government decided to intervene. There have been many naive investors scammed, so the Spanish government’s move takes on special significance in the Iberian country. 

Under the new legislation, it will be the financial markets supervisory authority, the CNMV itself, that will have to authorize such mass campaigns, so as to ensure that investors are properly informed about the risks they are taking.

Influencers affected

The new rules will apply to any form of advertising campaign, even when it is individuals who are advertising on their own behalf or on behalf of third parties. So the new law will also apply when communication is entrusted to influencers on social media who have more than 100,000 followers. 

Already last November, the CNMV reprimanded the famous Barcelona footballer Andres for promoting Binance on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, informing him that he should thoroughly inform himself about cryptocurrencies before investing or suggesting others to do so. 

According to some rumors, the government in the UK is also considering taking similar measures, and should the Spanish initiative be successful, it is to be expected that other countries might consider them as well. 

Criteria to know

Currently, the exact opposite happens, i.e. advertising campaigns related to cryptocurrencies are launched freely, leaving the supervisory authorities to intervene if necessary afterwards. The new Spanish rules will in fact greatly simplify the work of the CNMV. 

However, it remains to be understood what criteria the CNMV will use to decide which campaigns to authorize and which not. For now, the only thing that is certain is that those who want to launch a crypto campaign will have to include in their messages warnings about the risks related to the assets they are proposing to the market.