Spain sets new rules for influencers who promote cryptocurrencies

It’s Spain establishment rules relating to the promotion of influential persons, their sponsors and others cryptocurrencies. Influencers and other advertisers with more than 100,000 followers in the country must notify the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) at least 10 days before the inclusion of crypto assets. They will face fines of up to 300,000 euros (about $ 342,000) for violating the rules, which take effect Feb. 17.

Influencers need to find out if they are receiving a payment to negotiate cryptocurrencies. If this is the case, they will need to give clear and impartial warnings about the risks of cryptocurrencies, including the fact that investments are not regulated. The rules also cover companies that promote crypto assets, as well as PR companies that engage.

“In order for influential people not to be covered, there would be a backstage to evade regulations,” CNMV chief Rodrigo Buenaventura told Financial Times. “This is new ground, for us and for them, and there will be moments of twitching, but it always happens when you introduce rules for something that wasn’t regulated before.”

It is believed that this is the first time that a European Union country has adopted such directives. EU members have yet to agree on how to regulate cryptocurrencies throughout the bloc. Meanwhile, Buenaventura notes, member states are addressing some issues related to cryptocurrencies, including the way they are advertised.

Some influencers who included cryptocurrencies and related products found themselves in hot water. In July, French authorities fined the reality TV star $ 20,000 ($ 22,800) for “deceptive commercial practices” for an ad on a Bitcoin trading site on Snapchat. Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather were there this month named as defendants in a class action lawsuit charging them with participation in a “pump and dump” scheme.