SEBI seeks to prohibit celebrities from endorsing cryptocurrencies

The suggestion was made to the Parliamentary Standing committee on Finance.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), India’s market watchdog, has “suggested that no ‘prominent public figures, including celebrities, sportsmen’ should endorse crypto products and the advertisement discloser should also talk about possible violation of laws” says a Hindu BusinessLine report from 16 May 2022. This view was suggested to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance.

Such a development comes a few months after the government of India proposed a 30 per cent tax on the transfer of any virtual/cryptocurrency during the financial budget on 1 February 2022.

Adding more focus to cryptocurrency advertising was the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), India’s adland monitor, which, in February 2022, released guidelines for the promotion of cryptocurrency and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

While a response from the standing committee is awaited, here are some of the cryptocurrency ads featuring celebrity endorsers.

Ranveer Singh for CoinSwitch Kuber

Kunal Roy Kapoor for CoinSwitch Kuber

Ayushmann Khurrana for Coin DCX