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'Irresponsible' London Underground Bitcoin Advert Banned
- keymone 5y agoWould it be banned if it was about AAPL or gold?
- joe463369 5y agoYes. > Advertising must be clear that the value of investments, unless guaranteed, could go down as well as up, ASA rules stipulate.
- cunidev 5y agoMost likely, yes.
- boudin 5y agoI'm quite sure actually. Every ads I've seen in the tube or ads for trading app has a clear warning text about the risks. This one has none and that's the problem, this is not about bitcoin itself.
- paxys 5y agoConsidering how tightly traditional securities are regulated, that is quite likely. In fact, is such advertising even allowed? I can't recall ever seeing a "BUY $CORP" billboard in my life. All advertising even vaguely related to investing has half its time/space dedicated to disclaimers.
- jameshart 5y agoCertainly not always been the case. If you see Sid, tell him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nedVpG-GjkE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nedVpG-GjkE
- Mauricebranagh 5y agoI have seen ads for investment trusts in the UK in railway stations, Janus Henderson in this case. That was a for an investment house not and individual security. I have had several of their trusts in my portfolio for decades now.
- MattGaiser 5y agoAt least in Canada, venture companies frequently advertise their stock.
- ncallaway 5y agoFrom the article: > The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the advert was misleading and left out important risk warnings. > Luno said the ads would not appear again and that future ads would feature an appropriate risk warning. > Advertising must be clear that the value of investments, unless guaranteed, could go down as well as up, ASA rules stipulate. It sounds like if the AAPL or gold had advertising that flagrantly violated the rules, they would also be banned.
- henvic 5y agoAt least with gold, you can make something with it. Bitcoin? If it goes down, you lose everything.
- laurent92 5y agoBitcoin? Losing everything? - If a workaround is found to its cryptographic formula, it goes to zero immediately, - If quantum computing is invented, - If a government tightens the tax declarations about it, making it a pain for a lot of holders who would then look into liquidating en masse, - If EY wanted to squash ransomware (as France does, being #1 victim) and requires “source of wealth proof” for every BTC transaction, - If a country like US or China assimilates BTC to terrorism or evasion, since Iran has been found using it to circumvent petrol restrictions, since Chinese people use it to evade the country, any country could decide for any reason that BTC is illegal and provoke a mass sale.
- thebean11 5y agoAny real world uses don't really justify the price though. I bet it would be >90% cheaper without speculation.
- chrisco255 5y agoThat's true of every asset class, from real estate to stocks.
- thebean11 5y agoDoubt. Stocks would not be 90% cheaper if they were valued as a series of time-discounted and risk-adjusted future cash flows.
- chrisco255 5y agoOf course they would. The speculation of future growth and sustained growth is built into the price of all stocks. And if you think that's wild wait until you learn about derivatives.
- mdoms 5y agoYes
- rchaud 5y agoYes it would. "BTC" did not pay for the ad, a trading platform did. Trading platforms are required to warn customers about risk. This company has agreed to do the same going forward. Otherwise they could have just kept the ad up and let the regulator take them to court.
- slg 5y agoThis ad reminds me of the old story about how Joe Kennedy knew it was time to get out of the market in 1929 when his shoe-shiner started giving him stock tips. In a way, I think this ad might be evidence of the exact opposite thing it is saying.
- TechBro8615 5y agoYeah, it’s such a well-known trope that I have to assume the ad is intentionally referencing it. But then it makes no sense!
- slg 5y agoI'm not sure either. They make no effort to subvert or even argue against that trope. Why reference a trope that argues the opposite of your point without putting in any effort to refute it?
- tobyjsullivan 5y agoMaybe it's the same as how scam emails are intentionally obvious.[0] They want to filter out anyone smart enough to spot a scam before they waste time. In Luno's case, they might be trying to filter out anyone with any shred of investment knowledge. [0] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/82814/secretly-smart-reason-scam-emails-are-poorly-written https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/82814/secretly-smart-rea...
- OminousWeapons 5y agoThey're trying to fool noobs into believing they are the smart money: "Look at this hype, if I get in now I can make a ton of money before the house of cards collapses".
- lupire 5y agoYou are overestimating the average person's ability to distinguish a premise from its negation, and underestimating the power of word association. People are like Google search. "foo" and "not foo" both trigger an association with "foo".
- lixtra 5y agoChampagne bottles popping in some advertising company! Huge reach!
- djschnei 5y agoGotta play by the same rules as the other asset classes. Shouldn't ruffle any feathers
- the_local_host 5y agoWhat's the point of Bitcoin if it has to play by the same rules as other asset classes? It's supposed to be resilient against attempts to control it.
- brazzy 5y agoIt's supposed to be a lot of things it is not.
- hungryforcodes 5y agoSuch as? It was started as an experiment -- I think it's been an insanely successful experiment. Don't be pedantic here and claim it was supposed to be some kind of money, but it's not. It's much more than that now, and in inspiring Etherium and all the other new paradigms, it's totally changed alot of people's thinking.
- flatline 5y agoThe bitcoin whitepaper puts forth some pretty clear ideological statements. Similar things had been tried before, this was the first successful, widespread attempt. I would hesitate to call it "experimental".
- mdoms 5y ago> Don't be pedantic here and claim it was supposed to be some kind of money, but it's not From the Bitcoin whitepaper, page 1 paragraph 1 sentence 1 > A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution What universe do you people live in?
- rglover 5y agoThe FUD machine is fully operational. Do your homework, folks. This is a psyop to dissuade people. Notice how only now, ten years into its existence and as it becomes a successful challenge to governments is there significant pushback. That's not a mistake. Software is not irresponsible, people are.
- user-the-name 5y agoNote how cryptocurrency promoters are now basically indistinguishable from conspiracy nuts.
- rglover 5y agoI'm not a cryptocurrency promoter. I bought early (~2012) and researched how it works and why and have watched the aforementioned disinformation campaign kick in over the last six months. Everyone who disagrees with your point of view isn't a conspiracy theorist. Have conversations with people, don't be ignorant.
- user-the-name 5y agoI have had so many, many, many conversations with cryptocurrency people. They are, by and large, either conspiracy nutters or greedy scammers.
- rglover 5y agoAnd? You use that as an excuse to go around labeling people because you don't like what they say? Send me an email if you want to compare notes but don't leave punk ass comments like that.
- sthnblllII 5y agoRemember the conspiracy nuts who said WMDs were a lie? Or the nut jobs who said the lab escape origin for Sars cov 2 should be taken seriously? Yea. I didnt see the comment you just replied to but Im pretty mad at people who dismiss everything they've been told not to like the way you just did.
- Digit-Al 5y ago> ...and described Bitcoin as "digital gold". I believe the correct term is "fools gold".
- arthurofcharn 5y agoIf you see an ad for bitcoin on the London underground, it is time to buy TULIPS. (There, I fixed that for you.)
- Jabbles 5y agoOne thing I've noticed about (other) crypto adverts is that the small print generally says something like: Not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority which, if you're not particularly financially-literate, can seem very similar to the small print found on every other financial product: Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
- CapriciousCptl 5y agoThe advertisement text is-- "If you're seeing bitcoin on the [London] Underground, it's time to buy." Which begs the question, when is the time to sell? When you stop seeing it on the Underground (now?).
- greenwich26 5y ago> Advertising must be clear that the value of investments, unless guaranteed, could go down as well as up, ASA rules stipulate. One thing you can guarantee is that the value of GBP could only go down with these fools in power. Maybe we should have some rules stipulating that must be clear during political campaigning.
- rchaud 5y ago> One thing you can guarantee is that the value of GBP could only go down with these fools in power. Value of GBP compared to what? £1 = £1
- Ancapistani 5y ago> £1 = £1 Did.... did you just implicitly compare the Pound to Dogecoin?
- retrac 5y agoSurely with the debt load the UK has right now, one can only hope the GBP depreciates at a slow but steady rate over the next few years? Here in Canada it's considered a disaster if the dollar rises too much too quickly. We're an export-oriented economy and a rising dollar depresses the manufacturing and extraction industries every time it happens. You say GBP going down like it's an inherently bad thing and I can't figure why. If either CAD or the GBP started consistently appreciating over time, both countries would be in quite a lot of trouble. In fact the monetary policy and debt issuance policies assume slight depreciation.
- greenwich26 5y agoI understand the macroeconomic argument, but I still think that the fact that inflation will totally destroy an uninvested, normal middle-class-sized savings account in less than a generation is a huge obstacle for normal people building wealth. That is the inherently bad thing about it. I primarily attribute the growing "wealth gap"---the growth in the net wealth owned by the top 0.1% of people, from a 5% share in 1970 to a 20% share in 2020---to the end of Bretton-Woods and the gold standard (1971).
- jwcacces 5y agoLike late night ads for mortgages, "If you're seeing bitcoin on the Underground", that's when you know they're looking for suckers...
- Animats 5y agoWell, of course. Bitcoin is zero-sum. For every winner, there has to be a loser. It's not like investing in Chinese solar panel makers or wind turbine makers in Denmark, which generate actual revenue and profits. Bitcoin needs a growing supply of suckers. At some point, the sucker supply runs out.
- WanderPanda 5y agoIf it lives up to its sound money hype, it might be positive sum in the end
- fnord77 5y agothe investor mania going on right now in everything from stonks to shitcoins to collectibles feels just like the late stage of the dot-com bubble.
- G3rn0ti 5y agoYes and it has similar causes. Very low (in fact negative) interest rates set by the FED and ECB on top of „quantitative easing“ policies. After the subprime crisis and especially now due to the Corona crisis we have unprecedented monetary expansions. This is why people cannot simply put part of their earnings into a simple savings account anymore — traditionally a low-risk way to accrue interests and leaving the risky investment schemes to more knowledgeable people. In these times everybody thinks to be a good investor ... People calling for banning Bitcoin should rather consider where this trend is ultimately coming from and start questioning our current monetary system instead. Personally, I am quite positive towards certain cryptos but I think these crazy pumps and dumps we see currently are not only fueled by technological craze but especially by bad monetary policies implemented by irresponsible governments addicted to deficit spending on the one hand and central banks supporting the abuse. In the long run Bitcoin and DeFi blockchains might actually help bringing back reason and humility into the financial sector but currently they are driven by a huge surplus of money created by the very people in power now demonizing cryptos.
- lupire 5y agoYou can keep up with asset inflation by... buying assets. Bitcoin won't solve the problem of your future wages not keeping up.