Floki/Cryptos: Advertising regulation should be more than a symbolic gesture

In London, skeptics who consider cryptocurrencies as related to ponzi systems feel increasing discomfort and inadequacy. U-stations, trains and buses are littered with advertising, the "Missing Doge? Get Floki." They show a cartoon of a funny dog ​​in a Viking helmet.

The symbol stands for Floki Inu, an unregulated digital token that was created by unknown developers in June. Part of his mission is to collect cash via a fee of 4 percent to pay more advertisements to win more buyers. This would usually increase the price of the token. Such multiplier strategies often end chaotic in marketing.

According to Coinbase, Floki Inu's price rose by 245 percent in seven days. Floki Inu is unlikely to describe himself as a "movement", inspired by a tweet by Tesla boss Elon Musk about his new dog Floki, a Shiba Inu. A related influence is Dogecoin, an admittedly valuable crypto that immortalized an online spelling of the word "dog".

Not a prudent investor would buy floki inu.

The problem is that the United Kingdom strictly controlls the marketing of regulated financial products. Uninformed consumers could easily assume that advertising for unregulated cryptos has overcome the same hard hurdles in public transport.

floki inu shows that questionable investment plans can become part of everyday life when the supervisory authorities are on their hands. The FCA prohibition of binary options - financial betting, which were often manipulated in favor of the bookmaker - only if the disadvantages for consumers had become blatantly.

At that time, the regulatory authority hid behind the gambling commission for a while. This time, another non -financial regulatory authority, the Advertising Standards Authority, covers the FCA and Transport for London, whereby the public facility is raising a fee for the ads.

In May, the ASA prohibited advertising for the Luno cryptocurrency exchange. These said: "If you see Bitcoin underground, it's time to buy." The ASA decided that the advertisements were misleading and left out important risk blocks.

The advertising supervisory authority should prohibit the floki inu ads-whose slogan alludes to the high value of Dogecoin.