ASCI Guidelines For Advertising Virtual Digital Assets In India

In India, virtual digital assets like cryptocurrencies, coins, tokens and NFTs are still unregulated and government consider these as a threat to the country’s economy. Although the current govt. which is in power has implemented a 30% tax on all digital asset profits along with 1% TDS for every transaction but still they consider VDAs as unregulated. Some crypto enthusiast are taking the taxation news as a positive step towards the regulation of digital virtual assets in future but things on the promotion/advertisement front were not transparent until now.

On 23rd February 2022, the Advertising Stands Council of India [ASCI] has released few guidelines which must be implemented by the advertisers before the deadline 15th April 2022. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and users are generally not aware of the manipulation which is practiced frequently in this space. In India, companies like CoinDCX, Coinswitch Kuber are heavily advertising on television and other social media platforms, which though welcomed should be viewed cautiously.

There are celebrity influencers and brand ambassadors like Ranveer Singh, Ayushmann Khurrana and Virendra Sehwag, which can be seen promoting these platforms with catchphrases like “Start investing with only 100 Rupees”. The young audience of India is highly influenced by these celebrities and they invest without considering the risks involved in this field. But now ASCI has provided detailed guidelines which must be followed by every company which is in involved in advertising digital virtual assets like coins, tokens and NFTs.

ASCI Guidelines For Advertising Virtual Digital Assets 2022:

Now lets have a look at the guidelines and framework provided by ASCI for advertising crypto related products in India.

• DISCLAIMER: The first guideline is about the disclaimer which must be followed by all Virtual Digital Asset companies and the exchanges used for trading these assets. According to this guidelines during the adverting campaign of these virtual assets, the disclaimer should be used in such a ways that the average user can read it properly and can’t miss it.

“Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions.”

1. Print and Static Advertising: If your company is doing print advertising about virtual digital assets then the 1/5 of the total space must be used for the disclaimer and the font used for disclaimer should be big enough to be readable.
2. Video Advertising: During video advertising of virtual digital assets and related services the disclaimer should be put at the end of video along with text. If your advertised video is longer than two minutes then 2 disclaimers are required: one at the beginning of video and second at the end which must be in clear voice & not less than five seconds.
3. Audio Advertising: In an audio ad format of less then 90 seconds the disclaimer must be read once at the end in non hurried manner. If the audio advertising is longer than time duration of 90 seconds then disclaimer must be read at start and the end also.
4. Social Media Advertising: If you are using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for advertising digital assets like Crypto or NFTs then the disclaimer must be put in the caption. But if you are using a video or image in your social media ad on any online platform then disclaimer must be used two times- one in the captain and the second one in the integrated image, audio or video.
5. In many online advertising platforms there is limitation of characters so there a short disclaimer should be used with a link to full disclaimer page. “Crypto products and NFT’s are unregulated and risky”
6. One the most important thing virtual digital asset advertisers is that the language of disclaimer should be same in that area according to their regional language so users can understand it easily.

Official Tweet By ASCI On Advertising Guidelines

Guidelines out now! After extensive discussions with various stakeholders. ASCI has released Guidelines for advertising of Virtual Digital Assets and linked services.

Link to Virtual Digital Assets Guidelines https://t.co/hLUduXR518#Guidelines #Ad #VDA #Crypto pic.twitter.com/lHS3BmQaqr

— ASCI (@ascionline) February 23, 2022

• ASCI has also mentioned that virtual digital assets and related services can’t use terms like securities, depositories, custodian and currency in their advertising campaigns.
• The data and warnings provided by regulated entities in India should be similar to the information provided by virtual digital asset advertisers and it should be updated according to the latest guidelines.
• In case the virtual digital asset advertiser uses information like price and profitability of assets then they should provide updated information and the transaction costs involved should be available in accurate figures. Also in the digital asset advertisements the performance of an asset in a time duration of less than a year can’t be included.
• The products and services related to virtual digital assets should be advertise in such a manner that users can understand it clearly. The advertisement should include the advertiser’s name, contact number and official email ID so users can connect with their support easily.
• The minors are not allowed to appear in any kind of virtual digital asset related advertisements.
• The advertisements about virtual digital assets and trading related services should not show content like “money problem solution”, “personality issues”, “drawbacks”, “future” or “guaranteed profits”.
• The advertisements about digital virtual assets should not show that these assets like crypto, NFTs are simple to understand and invest.
• Also the advertising companies should make sure that they should not compare these virtual digital assets to any other regulated class like stocks or mutual funds.
• In the final guideline ASCI has mentioned that celebrities who are involved in these kind of virtual asset advertising should perform due diligence and special care should be taken about what they are talking in the respective advertisement to avoid any kind of misleading information.

Disclaimer: The above information about the advertising guidelines for virtual digital assets is according to the details provided by The Advertising Standards Council of India and can be changed/updated by the ASCI in the future. Cryptoofficiel.com is news portal for help crypto enthusiasts to get latest information about the Blockchain and Virtual Assets worldwide. We are not connected to ASIC in any manner and the guidelines provided here are for educational purpose only. You can check exact advertising guidelines on the official website of ASIC: ASCI Guidelines on Virtual Digital Assets