Last week the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK’s financial regulator, has warned that crypto memes could land people in prison or with a fine for breaching financial promotion rules. dappGambl analysed 10,000 crypto Tweets to find on average just how many memes the community are posting.
The FCA found an increase in the use of memes to promote crypto investments on social media, explaining that memes promoting crypto investments must comply with the same financial promotion rules as any other form of financial promotion.
Over Two-Thirds Of Crypto Twitter Post Images And 22% Of Which Are Memes
Analysing over 10,000 Tweets from Crypto accounts on Twitter, dappGambl found that over 6,200 contain images (62%). This figure is higher than the average Twitter user where only 37% of posts use images.
Of these 6,200 Tweets containing images, over 22% are memes. Again, this is 13% higher than the average Twitter user. The images used in the Tweets also included screenshots, which made up 25% of images and infographics 15%.
The FCA says, “We have seen memes and other similar communications circulated on social media with users often not realising they are subject to our rules,” highlighting the use of memes in promotions is particularly prevalent in the crypto space.
Which Rules Do Crypto Memes Have To Comply With And Which Are Most Often Broken?
The FCA has warned that crypto memes can be considered financial promotions and must comply with the same rules as any other form of financial promotion, but many are wondering what exactly these rules are.
Will Wood, expert at dappGambl, explains the rules in which crypto memes have to comply with when markinging a financial product as well as the ones they most often break:
“Any crypto memes must include risk warnings, not be misleading or deceptive, and must not be targeted at children or vulnerable adults. The FCA is concerned that crypto memes are being used to mislead people about the risks of investing in crypto, and they are therefore proposing new rules that would require crypto memes to be more clearly labelled as financial promotions and to include more prominent risk warnings.
“One of the most prominent issues with crypto memes is that many have been found to create a sense of “FOMO” (fear of missing out) and urgency. Some also are irresponsibly portraying crypto assets as an “easy” investment decision without outlining the relevant risks. Both of these actions would be considered a breach of financial promotion rules and anyone found doing so could face up to two years in prison”
About dappGambl
We at dappGambl are a group of blockchain and casino enthusiasts that consider crypto casinos and other gambling dApps to be the future of online gambling.
