FILE - In this January 18, 2020 file photo, Kim Kardashian West speaks at the "Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project" panel during the Oxygen TCA 2020 Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)
A British financial regulator concerned about the lack of rules for online promotion of cryptocurrencies has called out celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian-West's use of her Instagram account to pitch Ethereum Max to her followers.
Charles Randell, chair of the Financial Conduct Authority, said Kardashian was recently paid to ask her 250 million Instagram followers to speculate on crypto tokens by "joining the Ethereum Max Community."
He noted Kardashian disclosed that the post was an ad, as required by Instagram's rules.
"But she didn't have to disclose that Ethereum Max – not to be confused with Ethereum – was a speculative digital token created a month before by unknown developers – one of hundreds of such tokens that fill the crypto-exchanges," Randell said in a speech Monday to the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, according to a transcript posted online.
Randell said he didn't know whether Ethereum Max was a scam. "But social media influencers are routinely paid by scammers to help them pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation," Randell said. "Some influencers promote coins that turn out simply not to exist at all."
Email requests for comment were sent to Kardashian West's representative and...
Read Full Story: https://cayman.loopnews.com/content/uk-watchdog-calls-out-kardashian-wests-instagram-crypto-ad-0
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.
