India's Crypto Advertising Guidelines Are Out

The Advertising Stands Council of India (ASCI) has released guidelines for crypto or virtual digital assets related advertisements, which will be applicable on or after April 1. Earlier advertisements must not appear in the public domain unless they comply with the new guidelines after April 15, 2022.

The ASCI said it held extensive consultations "with different stakeholders including government and the virtual digital asset industry" to frame the guidelines.

The primary guideline requires all ads for VDA (virtual digital asset) products and VDA exchanges or featuring VDAs to carry the following disclaimer: “Crypto products and [non-fungible tokens] are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions.”
According to the guidelines, the words “currency,” “securities,” “custodian” and “depositories” may not be used in advertisements of VDA products or services because consumers associate these terms with regulated products.
The guidelines also mandate the cost or profitability of VDA products shall contain clear, accurate, sufficient and updated information. For example, “zero cost” will need to include all costs that the consumer might reasonably associate with the offer or transaction.
The guidelines include a requirement that "returns for periods of less than 12 months shall not be included" in advertisements in order to make sure that "information on past performance shall not be provided in any partial or biased manner."
India's advertising watchdog stated that several of the current crypto-related advertisements "do not adequately disclose the risks associated with such products."
In November India Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting to consider regulatory prospects of cryptocurrencies. At that meeting, according to reports, a strong consensus was reached to stop "attempts to mislead the youth through over-promising and non-transparent advertising."

DISCLOSURE

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.

Amitoj Singh

Amitoj Singh is CoinDesk's regulatory reporter covering India. He holds BTC and ETH below CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Follow @amitoj on Twitter

Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.