JVTech News In France, crypto influencers may soon find themselves unemployed
As industry influencers are currently facing the cryptocurrency winter, a new obstacle may arise in their businesses. A new bill presented by two French MPs intends to end paid partnerships aimed at promoting various cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Influencers Targeted by New Law
While Bitcoin has seen its price decline throughout 2022, crypto influencers, who emerged with the buzz around Bitcoin 2 years earlier, have seen their following dwindle. In this new year, they now face a new obstacle.
A bill registered in late December in the National Assembly by two deputies from the Socialist group, Arthur Delaporte and Boris Vallaud, will change the situation in terms of partnerships for French crypto influencers.
Specifically, the text generically mentions the fight against abuses of the influencer profession on social networks, whether they are in the crypto sector or not. This new law, which will be examined in early February by the National Assembly, will therefore aim to regulate the various activities of influencers on the Internet.
The latter may be prohibited from promoting certain subjects for consideration. Concretely, this proposal aims to ban advertisements for “financial investments and digital assets” from social networks, considered risky for less informed consumers.
As a result, if the law goes into effect, French crypto influencers will no longer be able to receive compensation in exchange for promoting a crypto project, even if they communicate the sponsored nature of the post to their audience. In case of non-compliance with the law, the individual will be liable to a sentence of up to 5 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 375,000 euros.
“There have been many scams, we had to bring a strong political message, we have to stop with dangerous promotions that make consumers lose money,” explains Arthur Delaporte, socialist deputy, of BFM Crypto.
If the deputies of the assembly decide to adopt the bill, then it will be submitted to the vote of the Senate. If agreed, the law could go into effect by the end of the year and thus make the crypto-influencer business less profitable.
Crypto influencers in decline?
With the explosion in prices in 2020, many influencers have emerged, some claiming to be experts. From YouTube, Instagram or Tiktok to the crypto category on Twitch, the topic has interested the eyes of the general public.
Naturally, influencers have taken advantage of the cryptocurrency craze to sell all kinds of flaky projects for a fee. Generally this type of influencer is not particularly appreciated by the crypto community. Furthermore, with the recent bill, several users have deemed this decision necessary, because it gave a bad image of the ecosystem.
“If we couldn’t have any more crypto influencers guys, then we wouldn’t be worse off…” explains a Bitcoin enthusiast on Twitter
“Good news for cryptocurrency influencers: You can always trade #bitcoins because no one will ever pay you for it. says another.
However, it’s important not to put everyone in one basket. There is a distinction to be made between purely advertising content and the anthology of quality French educational content that aims to learn more about blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
In fact, many qualified influencers talk about crypto for informational purposes only. Often free, this content can sometimes redirect to affiliate links from crypto partners, just to monetize the work provided. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the bill will go as far as to ban this practice.
The text comes in a climate of global loss of confidence following the unfortunate events of recent months. The recent crash of FTX has left many unaware users on the hook, so it seems clear that the sector needs to be better regulated – and this usually involves legislative proposals and dialogue with cryptocurrency industry players, with the aim of taking consistent action .