CoinSwitch Kuber, the unicorn crypto exchange today published a full front-page ad on the national daily Economic Times asking users not to buy crypto without prior research. This is in stark contrast with earlier ads featuring Ranveer Singh which went with the tagline “Buying Bitcoin Bahut Simple“. The unicorn crypto exchange is on an ad spending spree recently.
The crypto sector is unregulated in India and the number of ads in print, television, and the digital media space in recent times has raised eyebrows. Opposition leaders across the party lines have demanded the issuance of regulations to protect the investors.
Last week, Congress leader and former South Mumbai MP Milind Deora said if unregulated, the cryptos can disrupt India’s monetary and financial stability.
Aggressive advertising without regard to the interests of retail investors can bring the wrath of the government – we have seen this in the gaming sector where several states have enacted laws banning even the games of skill.
The CoinSwitch ad published today appears to position the company as having appropriate self-regulatory safeguards for the benefit of investors. CoinSwitch founder and CEO Ashish Singhal is the co-Chair of the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), an industry self-regulatory body under the aegis of IAMAI.
The ad directs the users to solve a crossword puzzle on the crypto awareness and offers INR 500 worth of bitcoin for the first 20 users messaging the exchange on Instagram, Twitter with a picture of the solved puzzle.
“The (crypto) industry is working closely with regulators and policymakers to build a prosperous and secure crypto environment to put India on the global crypto map,” Singhal was quoted in a statement last week.
Adopting to self-regulatory safeguards, the top three cryptocurrency exchanges – WazirX, CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX – have blocked over two lakh accounts citing malicious activities in the first six months of the financial year 2021-22.
