Cryptodotcom and Turtle United NFT promotions get banned by UK advertising regulator

SNEAK PEEK

  • The UK’s advertising watchdog disapproved of Crypto.com and Turtle United’s NFT adverts.
  • The decision of the Advertising Standards Authority addressed sponsored Facebook ads from July for both Turtle United and Crypto.com.
  • The U.K.’s advertising authority previously barred two adverts for the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com.

The UK’s advertising watchdog disapproved of NFT advertisements by Crypto.com and Turtle United for neglecting to disclose the dangers of investing in NFTs and failing to adequately depict transaction costs.

The Advertising Standards Authority’s ruling concerned sponsored Facebook advertisements from July for both Turtle United and Crypto.com.

Crypto.com acknowledged the ad was taken down and responded to the judgment about its NFT marketplace by saying that it did not consider the NFTs available on its platform, which included artwork and sports memorabilia, to be financial.

It claimed that since NFTs were not included in recent Treasury consultation papers on cryptocurrencies, they would be exempt from the ASA’s code’s financial requirements and would not be required to disclose that cryptocurrency profits were subject to capital gains tax and that they were unregulated. The ASA did, however, uphold the complaint.

Two advertisements for the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com were previously prohibited by the U.K.’s advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority because they were deemed to be deceptive. 

The ASA found that the business was enticing clients to buy cryptocurrency using a credit card, which might incur additional costs and/or a higher cash interest rate.

Similar issues were raised by the ASA about Turtle United, which ignored its complaint. According to the regulator, Turtle United failed to make it clear that past performance or experience does not always serve as a reliable indicator for the future. The ASA asserted that the project’s representation that it was “providing a lot of value to its holders” meant that the NFTs had an assured large worth.

According to data from OpenSea, Turtle United’s current floor price is 0.02 ETH, or around $24. The advertised mint price was 0.2 ETH + transaction costs. The decision amounts to little more than a warning for both businesses, who have been instructed to stop running the ads in their current configuration. The ASA announced earlier this year that it will increase its emphasis on cryptocurrency advertising and set up new consumer safeguards.