Indian High Court Seeks Disclaimers on Crypto Advertising
The High Court of Delhi is seeking responses and has scheduled the matter for discussion in August.
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:25 p.m. UTC
The High Court of Delhi in India has called for standardized disclaimers on crypto-related advertising on national television.
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and other relevant bodies should issue appropriate guidelines for crypto exchanges advertising on TV, the court said, according to reports Wednesday.
- The court is seeking responses from SEBI, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and some of India's prominent crypto exchanges like WasirX, scheduling the matter for discussion in August.
- The request comes after lawyers Ayush Shukla and Vikash Kumar petitioned for SEBI to mandate disclaimer text covering 80% of the screen, with a voiceover reading slowly for five seconds.
- The suggested format compares with the current practice where a disclaimer is displayed briefly in small text with wording such as "Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks," according to the request.
- If the guidelines are issued, it might be interpreted as a further sign of India moving away from the outright crypto ban that had been threatened by the government and adopting a more lenient approach by regulating the industry.