French lawmakers agreed to soften the strict restrictions in a crypto bill previously proposed in March. The bill aims to control the excessive impact of social influencers on digital assets.
Before now, the bill was drafted to allow only licensed digital asset firms in the country to participate in influencer marketing.
But with the recent development, digital asset firms registered with France’s Financial regulator, Financial Markets Authority (AMF), can now engage in influencer marketing.
French Lawmakers Soften Restriction On Crypto Influencer Law
According to a press release, the senators and the deputies of the economic affairs committees reached a unanimous agreement on the digital asset influencer proposed bill.
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The statement from lawmakers Arthur Delaporte and Stephane Vojetta disclosed the latest decision on the influencer marketing bill. The lawmakers further stated that influencer marketers could only promote financial products and digital assets from firms registered with the AMF.
They also mentioned that agents from the AMF and consumer affairs regulators would strengthen their regulatory activities to monitor the marketers.
Furthermore, there would be penalties for non-compliance with the laws. These include about two years imprisonment, a fine of €300,000, and a possible ban on influencer activity.
Besides digital products and services, the restriction of influencers’ marketing cuts across other products like vapes. Also, the country would soon prohibit showing sports betting and gambling products to persons under 18 years.
No crypto firm has been licensed in France or is legally expected to do so. But the national financial regulator, AMF, has registered almost 60 crypto companies in the country.
The Place Of Crypto Influencer Marketing
Social media platforms and influencer marketing have become a conventional means of business promotion, even in the crypto space.
According to Cision PR Newswire, 37% of consumers trust social media influencers. Also, 80% of consumers have taken action in response to social media content.
Crypto firms utilize influencers to raise brand awareness and convince more investors to plunge into the crypto asset space.
In 2021, the leading meme coin Dogecoin had an explosive price run following tweets from Elon Musk and Mark Cuban.
On April 28, 2021, the billionaire Elon Musk tweeted, “The Dogefather. SNL May 8”. The tweet spiked the price of the meme coin by over 150% from $0.2717 on April 28, 2021, to $0.6818 on May 8, 2021.
However, due to the crash of many crypto projects social influencers promoted, the regulators tightened regulations around their activities.
An Indiatimes report on March 23, 2023, disclosed that the US SEC sued Justin Sun and eight other celebrities for digital asset market manipulation and celebrity endorsements.
Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView