Kim Kardashian has been spotted by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for pumping out a crypto token that could put investors at risk. With 250 million followers on Instagram, the FCA president said Kardashian's cryptocurrency promotion "may have been the financial promotion with the largest audience coverage in history."
Kim Kardashian promotes crypto tokens that could put investors at risk, the regulator said
The chairman of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) Charles Randell spotted celebrity Kim Kardashian in a new crypto scam alert. Kardashian is a very popular personality in the American media. She married pro-bitcoin rapper Kanye West, but filed for divorce earlier this year.
In his speech at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime on Monday, Randell discussed "The risks of token regulation" and the "rules that protect people from fraud and investment scams."
Describing in detail how online platforms can provide scam advice to help investors avoid making bad decisions, he said: “We will work with online platforms that want to protect both consumers and their brands.
Randell then continued: “Which brings me to Kim Kardashian. When she was recently paid to ask her 250 million Instagram followers to speculate on crypto tokens 'joining the Ethereum Max community', it may have been the biggest public success financial promotion in history. "
Ethereum Max - not to be confused with Ethereum
While acknowledging that Instagram's rules required Kardashian to disclose that her post was an announcement, Randell argued that "it was not to disclose that Ethereum Max - not to be confused with Ethereum - was a speculative digital token created a month earlier by unknown developers. . - one of the hundreds of such tokens that fill cryptocurrency exchanges ".
The FCA chief said: “Of course, I can't say if this particular token is a scam. But social media influencers are regularly paid by scammers to help them pump and download new tokens in the wake of pure speculation. Some influencers promote coins that simply don't exist at all ”.
Despite all the risks, Randell said that "the hype around them generates a strong fear of losing on the part of some consumers who may have little understanding of their risks."
Randell proceeded to discuss the regulations, stating that "It will take a lot of attention to create a regulatory regime that will be effective in the decentralized world of digital tokens."
The FCA president then added: "In the meantime, it seems to me that there are two instances where regulators should have the power to act to reduce the potential harm to consumers from purely speculative tokens, not least to ensure that trust in the technology overall is not destroyed by bad actors in this space ”.
