Former Love Island contestants Eve and Jessica Gale have been ordered to refrain from publishing Instagram posts which mislead people over the risks involved in trading cryptocurrency.
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority said the twins, which appeared on the UK reality show in 2020, had “trivialised investment in cryptocurrency”.
An Instastory posted by Eve in June 2022 featured a video where she said: “Hey guys. So I just wanted to introduce you to a girl called Elizabeth who I recently met on my travels and she works in crypto. So saving and investing, and she literally breaks it down and makes it so much easier to understand. Teaches you guys how to make money from your phone in such an easy way. So I would definitely recommend. If you guys are interested all you have to do is send her a DM and tell her I sent you.”
A similar post by Jessica saw her direct followers to Elizabeth O’Donell’s account and say: “Just quickly me and Eve have just been introduced to someone in Mykonos. She was so lovely. Her name is Elizabeth. She has introduced us to the world of crypto. So I knew nothing about this before but I was honestly blown away at how quickly her business has grown. It is basically a super quick, easy way of making extra money from your phone.”
The ASA upheld claims that the ad was “misleading” and “irresponsible”.
O’Donell had sent the twins a brief and a script which explained what they should say and do for the ad. They were asked to follow the script in a chatty and organic style.
She also sent them examples of other influencers promoting her services and that reassured them she had worked with influencers and social promotions before. She did not mention the risks of cryptocurrency, and the previous examples also did not highlight that.
The Gales said O’Donell was responsive, appeared genuine and paid on time and so they had no reason to be concerned about her.
O’Donell did not provide a substantive reply to the ASA’s enquiries, the regulator said.
“We considered the ads were addressed to a general audience who were unlikely to have any specialist knowledge of investing in cryptoassets,” said the regulator. “In the absence of any other information to the contrary, we considered that consumers would interpret the overall impression from the ads to mean that investment in cryptoassets was simple and risk free, even to those consumers who had only limited knowledge of cryptoassets.”
The ASA said the twins could not post the crypto ads – which did include #Ad – in this form again, but they have not been barred from promoting digital assets in future advertisements on social media.
Ahead of new legislation which will give the Financial Conduct Authority the power to treat crypto ads like other financial promotions, the ASA has attempted to raise awareness that social media influencers’ posts on the subject should be treated with caution.
Cryptocurrency shorts
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Sorare is to launch a free-to-play NFT-based fantasy basketball game with the NBA and players’ association NBPA for the upcoming season.
Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager is set to liquidate all its assets through an auction that is scheduled for September 13th.
More than $8m in criminal monies has been laundered through NFT-based platforms since 2017, according to analysis by StockApps.com.
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the more than 20,800 coins is at $979 billion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 4.3% increase in the last 24 hours.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – gained 3% to $19,330. BTC is 4% down on its price a week ago.
Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – rose 8% to around $1,640. ETH is 6% up over the course of a week.
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token added 6% to $279, leaving it 1% up over seven days.
The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP climbed 6% to 33.6c, with its price 3% up on seven days ago.
Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, rose 3% to 48c and is 6% up in a week.
Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token gained 5% to $32.56, 4% higher than its price a week ago.
Meme coin DOGE was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE rose 4% to 6.1c and is slightly up over seven days.
Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, gained 4% to $7.20 and is 3% up on its price a week ago.
Polygon aims to securely connect blockchains as a sort of decentralised internet. Its MATIC token rose 4% to 84c, while it is slightly up in a week.
Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token gained 3% to $19.02 and is where it was a week ago.
To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in recent times – and for round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments – click here.
For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.