Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. Presidential election has had a ripple effect on the cryptocurrency boom in India. Cryptocurrency companies have increased their advertising budgets by 20% and are actively collaborating with social media influencers. However, these influencers are blatantly disregarding strict guidelines established by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).
According to ASCI guidelines, all virtual digital asset-related advertisements released on or after April 1, 2022, must include the disclaimer, “Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions.” This disclaimer must appear in promotional content across print, video, and audio mediums.
Despite these regulations, ASCI reported that over 400 cryptocurrency advertisements featuring influencers violated their guidelines in 2022.
Storyboard18 discovered numerous promotional posts on platforms like YouTube and Instagram that lacked the required disclaimers. For example: Lakshay Chaudhary, a leading YouTuber with 3.05 million subscribers, promoted CoinSwitch in a video on November 20, 2024, without any disclaimers.
TheFinancialYogi, an Instagram account with 41.8k followers, shared a video endorsing iForex Crypto, again without disclaimers.
Money Tech, a YouTube channel with 153k subscribers, posted a Shorts video promoting Binance, urging users to download the app and earn money, with no mention of the associated risks.
Why Influencers Omit Disclaimers
Rohit Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Alpha Zegus said, “There are two reasons behind influencers not including disclaimers in their promotional videos and posts. The primary being that the brand and agencies discourage influencers to add disclaimers as that reduces engagement and people skip the commercial portion of the video.”
Aggarwal further said, “Cryptocurrency is a sensitive topic in Indian ecosystem and when such disclaimers are added by influencers, this leads to government scrutiny when keywords are searched on social media platforms, this also leads influencers to refrain from adding disclaimers on promotional posts for crypto companies.”
Aggarwal noted, “Crypto brands target influencers on the basis of cult following of an influencer rather than the quality. Such influencers make their followers download the crypto apps and invest money. Certain ‘army’ of followers blindly follow influencers and brands are banking on such cult followings.”
Lured by monetary gains
Influencers with 10,000 to 50,000 followers charge ₹20,000–₹50,000 per promotion, while mid-tier influencers with 50,000 to 500,000 followers charge ₹50,000–₹200,000. Top-tier influencers command between ₹2 lakh and ₹1 million. Celebrity influencers charge Rs 1.5 million and upwards.
Shudeep Majumdar, CEO and Co-founder of Zefmo Media, an influencer marketing firm said, “Today many influencers are lured by the monetary benefits that cryptocurrency companies and startups offer leading to ignoring strict regulations set by ASCI for financial endorsements. Lure of money lead these influencers to indulge in such malpractices.”
Majumdar noted, “Minimal enforcement to curb such incidents is another reason that influencers violate ASCI norms and endorse cryptocurrency brands without any disclaimers. We have seen a steady rise in influencer marketing campaigns of crypto brands post Donald Trump’s victory in US Presidential elections.”
Majumdar further explained the reason behind sudden boom in crypto brands indulging in influencer marketing campaigns, “There are always market speculations post certain milestones in the global markets and both marketers and influencers try to leverage the situation and clearly indicating the rise of crypto advertisements. We keep a distance from working with such brands to ensure that we abide by the law of land.”
Will ASCI take a tough stance?
Experts estimate that crypto exchanges contributed over ₹200 crore to advertising expenses in 2021, with over ₹90 crore spent during the IPL. However, in 2022, government-imposed regulations—such as a 30% tax on crypto investments and a 1% TDS on transactions—led most crypto companies to shy away from high-profile marketing.
A Digital marketing agency founder with a clientele of two cryptocurrency brands on condition of anonymity said, “Lately we have seen our clients in the cryptocurrency space seeking influencer led campaigns. Digital marketing spends have increased by 20-30 percent. Social media influencers inorder to increase engagement refuse to add disclaimers in the video. We always suggest influencers to use legitimate ways to fulfill their reach and engagement targets.”
With influencers blatantly violating ASCI norms and promoting cryptocurrency brands, it is time that the self regulatory body takes tough measures to curb such violations. Storyboard18 reached out to ASCI for a comment but did not receive any official response.