The Delhi High Court has sent a notice to government agencies and crypto exchanges to seek guidelines on crypto-related advertising on national television.
Fast facts
- The division bench of Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh sought responses from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and crypto exchanges WazirX, CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber.
- Calling crypto assets “inherently risker” than traditional investment instruments, the notice requested that crypto-related advertising bear a standardized disclaimer. According to the notice, the disclaimer text should cover 80% of the TV screen, be accompanied by a slow voiceover, and last for five seconds.
- The notice also sought direction from the ministry on issuing show cause notices to the three exchanges and prohibited them from advertising on TV until disclaimer guidelines are issued by SEBI.
- WazirX told Forkast.News that although the notice was not particularly important, as the country’s advertising standards body already had guidelines in place for all investment advertising, it was good for crypto visibility. The exchange said: “It has created a conversation around the whole crypto space, which we see as a positive development for the industry, because now more and more people will be talking about it, media will cover this and people will have some understanding of the space in general.”
- The Reserve Bank of India published a now-invalid circular seeking to ban all crypto assets in 2018. Finance sector businesses continued to cite the circular and limit customers’ exposure to cryptocurrencies even after the Supreme Court ruled last year that the central bank’s prohibition was invalid. The latest move by the Delhi High Court represents a call for increased clarity amid uncertainty about regulation in India’s crypto space.