A new ad campaign launched by the Gemini Trust Company, a popular cryptocurrency exchange, is calling for cryptocurrency regulations as there needs to be a “bridge” between the traditional financial system and the cryptocurrency space.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins Cameron and Tyler in 2014 has been arguing that standard best practices and regulations should be adopted to protect investors in the space.
Per the WSJ’s report, Gemini’s campaign is currently showing subway and taxi-top ads with slogans like “The Revolution Needs Rules,” “Crypto Without Chaos,” and more. A full-page ad that’s set to appear in the New York Times next week will “press the point” Gemini claims.
Chris Roan, head of marketing at the exchange, was quoted as saying:
We believe that investors coming into cryptocurrency deserve the exact same protections as investors in more traditional markets, adhering to the same standards, practices, regulations and compliance protocols.
Roan added that the exchange sees “varying degrees of adherence to regulatory guidance. Some in the space, he noted, push for decentralized authority over decentralized money, while others – including the exchange – think there should be a “bridge” between the traditional financial system and the new one.
The ad campaign was reportedly created by the Interesting Development agency, and is part of Gemini’s efforts to target retail investors. It was timed to come shortly after the exchange launched its mobile app.
It comes, however, after a year-long bear market that saw the price of most cryptocurrencies plummet. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 100 Index (MVDA), a market-weighted index that tracks the performance of the top 100 cryptocurrencies, has dropped 83.7% in the last 12 months.
Neha Narula, director of the Digital Currency initiative at the MÎT Media Lab, told the WSJ that various existing regulations could be applied to the cryptocurrency space, but haven’t. He was quoted as saying:
There is a huge problem with market integrity, with consumer protection, and we definitely need to make sure that regulations are being enforced where they apply.
These regulations could, however, thwart innovation in the sector. Narula added that he wouldn’t want them to be applied to the point where “innovation is stifled because it’s too expensive for them to comply with regulation.”
