Regulation
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Lawyers warned cryptocurrency bloggers that the words “not an investment recommendation” will not help to avoid liability for possible financial losses of users.
Securities lawyer Matthew Nielsen of Bracewell LLP stated that commonly used disclaimers when promoting any crypto assets are useless on their own. The advisory clause will keep companies and crypto influencers from absconding from justice, as U.S. federal securities laws strictly regulate who has the right to give investment advice.
Nielsen noted that even well-known individuals promoting crypto assets are increasingly attracting the attention of regulators, especially in the US. As a striking example, the specialist named the recent US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit filed against top model Kim Kardashian, who promoted the EthereumMax (EMAX) token among her subscribers.
Digital lawyer Michael Bacina of Piper Alderman advised celebrities to independently check digital assets to see if they could be classified as securities. And only then tell people about the assets. Basina noted that people living in Australia must be licensed to provide financial advice. Therefore, the so-called disclaimers cannot be called magic words that can get rid of responsibility.
Cryptocurrency influencer Mason Versluis, known as Crypto Mason and with over a million followers on Tik Tok, responded to the lawyers’ comments. He stated that there was no other way to tell subscribers that his content should not be taken as financial advice. However, he admitted that despite such reservations, many people make investments in one or another crypto asset if the person of interest to them talks about it.
Crypto Mason emphasized that it can be very difficult to predict whether the developers of a cryptocurrency project will implement a liquidity withdrawal scheme (rug pull). As a rule, bloggers communicate with the marketing team, and rarely contact the developers or founders of the project.
In August, consumer advocacy group Truth in Advertising sent letters to several celebrities criticizing them for promoting NFTs and hiding their financial rewards.
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