The Australian Football League’s (AFL) crypto exchange sponsor Crypto.com has broken the Advertising Standard Authority’s (ASA) advertising codes on several occasions and has been branded ‘misleading’ and ‘irresponsible’ by the authority.
The ASA rulings may encourage further scrutiny of the cryptocurrency brand’s promotions in Australia, according to The Guardian.
In January 2022, a five-year partnership between the AFL and Crypto.com was announced. Since then the crypto exchange has been advertised around AFL stadiums.
In December the advertising watchdog found that a UK-based ad from the brand “failed to illustrate the risk of investing in non-fungible tokens”. The ASA also ruled that the ad did not make it clear that fees would apply to the NFTs.
In response to the ad authority, Crypto.com disputed the ruling, claiming that the apparent need to mention fees in the promotion was not necessary and would “only confuse consumers”.
In March of last year the ASA issued an enforcement notice to more than 50 companies that advertise cryptocurrencies, insisting they review their ads and comply with regulations. Despite this, the likes of football club Arsenal and ex-football star Michael Owen have since had crypto-related promotions banned by the ad authority.
The Guardian claims that it is currently unknown whether the ‘irresponsible’ and ‘misleading’ Crypto.com ads banned by the UK ad regulator have ran in Australia.
A Crypto.com spokesperson said the brand was “trusted by more than 70 million customers worldwide and is the industry leader in regulatory compliance, security and privacy certifications”.
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The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has called for stricter regulations surrounding cryptocurrency and crypto assets like NFTs.
“Any firm that is misleading or deceptive in its advertising is breaking the law,” the Asic spokesperson said.
When contacted for comment, the AFL reportedly pointed back to a previous statement made that said it stood by its partnership with Crypto.com.
