Photo Credit; Getty Images
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a series of advertisements from Coinbase, ruling that they irresponsibly suggested cryptocurrency could alleviate cost-of-living pressures. The watchdog upheld complaints regarding an August campaign that featured images of the UK in disrepair alongside satirical slogans and the exchange’s logo. The ASA concluded that the ads "trivialized the risks" of the crypto market, which remains largely unregulated in the United Kingdom.
Coinbase said it disagreed with the watchdog's decision.
"While we respect the ASA's decision, we fundamentally disagree with the characterisation of a campaign that critically reflects widely reported economic conditions as socially irresponsible," it said in a statement.
"The advert was intended to provoke discussion about the state of the financial system and the need to consider better futures, not to offer simplistic solutions or minimise risk."
As well as three posters, there was a video ad which depicted people and businesses in hardship while characters sang a satirical song about everything being "just fine". Among scenes shown to viewers were a family home "in a state of disrepair", a high street with closed shops "littered with binbags and rats" and a supermarket containing signs highlighting price increases, the watchdog said.
Meanwhile, the ad's satirical sentiment was later reiterated with the slogan "if everything's fine don't change anything" appearing alongside Coinbase's logo.
The ASA said 35 people complained about this or accompanying adverts, suggesting they were "irresponsible" and trivialising the risks of crypto investments.
It upheld these complaints in its decision published on Wednesday.
"By presenting the country as failing in areas such as the cost of living and home ownership, the ads implied to consumers that they should make a financial change," it said.
The pairing of the slogan and the logo also implied Coinbase "could be part of the solution to the financial problems stated in the ads".
The Financial Conduct Authority has previously warned people considering investing in cryptocurrency they should be "prepared to lose all their money" if its value collapses.
It is not the first time the UK's ad regulator has clamped down on crypto adverts.
