Crypto ads: Self regulation guidelines likely to be out soon

Cryptocurrency industry body – Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC) will soon come out with guidelines for advertising as part of the overall move towards standardised self-regulation by players.

“We are in discussions with the Advertising Standards Council of India and BACC and proposed steps for every industry player to take before they open up their advertising in general. These discussions are ongoing and hopefully, we would have our SROs ready within the next few weeks,” said Ashish Singhal, founder and CEO, CoinSwitch Kuber.

Singhal, who is also Co-Chair, BACC, said the guidelines will make it clear for every player on the dos and don’ts to follow for advertising.

KYC and education

The BACC is also working on a standardised set of self-regulatory guidelines for know your customer (KYC) and customer education and will also move on to issues including FIU reporting and risk monitoring.

Also read: ‘Social media buzz around cryptos surged by more than 400% in 2021’

“First is on KYC norms. Any user coming on to the crypto platform, what are the KYC norms, how can we standardise the norms to ensure that every player in the crypto industry follows the same standards for onboarding their customers,” said Singhal, adding that the second set of guidelines would be on education.

“What are the education guidelines that as an industry we need to put out. How do we guide users to get access to knowledge sharing exercises across the crypto domain, irrespective of the company which is hosting these knowledge sessions? The idea is how to collaborate to form a common platform for users on which they can clarify any doubt on crypto,” he said.

In the six months to October 2021, Coinswitch Kuber had suspended close to 1,80,000 accounts for malicious practices and was monitoring about two lakh accounts on its platform for suspect activities.

“We have done a lot of clean-up of our users as well for various reasons and we continue to do that. Our risk monitoring continues to evolve every single day to ensure we are the most compliant crypto company,” Singhal said.

Also read: Bills on crypto, banking privatisation deferred, both houses adjourned sine die

On the deferment of the introduction of the cryptocurrency Bill in Parliament, Singhal said that crypto is a complex subject and any rushed regulation may actually hurt the industry rather than help it.

“It’s good that the government is taking its time, understanding the space and having in-person discussions with stakeholders, to ensure they know all the nuances of the space and rather than rushing to the regulation,” he said.