ASIC announce new guidelines on financial influencing

TL; DR Breakdown

• ASIC rolls out new guidelines on financial influencing
• ASIC says offenders could spend years in prison
• Crypto community angry over new rules

There have been more participants in the crypto market in the last few years than in any other market across the financial market. This is partly aided by the pull from the digital asset due to their performances across weeks. However, other unknown factors are the influencers that advertise these assets to the general public. In a new update across Australia, the regulator in charge of these activities, the Australia Securities and Investment Commission, has released a warning.

ASIC says offenders could spend years in prison

The document made available by the regulators talked about certain ways that crypto influencers could break the law knowingly or unknowingly. This could happen due to them promoting certain products across the crypto market. The body also mentioned that any firm that errs could pay up to a million in penalties, with individuals spending up to five years in prison.

Although the document didn’t specifically mention influencers in the crypto sector, it talked about the various financial products that they promote. The firm also urges these influencers to ensure that their content is straightforward and that they are not breaking the law when promoting any service. However, one aspect of the rule that has continued to generate controversy is how promoting and informing the public about new services can be differentiated.

One writer, Dave Gow, mentioned that anybody could write something about a financial product, and people might be influenced to invest. This was brought about by how the ASIC chose to differentiate clear information about a product compared to how influencers portray them. The law says that provided a party provides advice that would trigger traders to invest in a product or not, they have automatically provided financial product advice that has not been licensed. According to Senator Andrew Bragg, the regulation from the ASIC and that of the crypto sector in Australia are two different things entirely.

In his opinion, Bragg wants the ASIC to remove the crypto sector from this class. With most writers now clearly seen as unlicensed influencers, Gow is not impressed by what the body asks them not to do subsequently. He mentioned that the rules would only mean that traders would be able to read the information outside instead of from influencers in the country. With the rule in place very soon, influencers and companies must ensure they are careful of what they say about a product. The Commission has also given clear examples of how they can identify what would help mean they’re breaking the law with clear case studies.