The governor of Ireland’s central bank has asked lawmakers to ban crypto ads targeting young people, according to a Reuters report dated January 25.
Gabriel Makhlouf, governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, said that a “reasonable number” of young adults had invested their money in cryptocurrency. He added that there is an “uncomfortable” amount of advertising targeting young people.
Makhlouf explicitly advocated for a ban before an Irish parliamentary committee, stating:
“If I could find a way, I would recommend that the ads [the young adult] the cohort is prohibited”.
He described most cryptocurrencies as a Ponzi scheme because many tokens are not backed by other assets. He then claimed that investing in cryptocurrency is “essentially gambling” and said that investing generally results in losses.
He also warned that upcoming EU legislation on stablecoins, backed by fiat currency, would not solve the problem. Reuters implied that Makhlouf was referring to MICA Regulationswhich include rules for stablecoin issuers.
The Bank of Ireland and its executives have issued similar warnings before. makhlouf Warned Bitcoin Investors that they could lose money on their Bitcoin investments in 2021. The bank also issued another warning on investing in cryptocurrencies in March 2022, which included a warning about misleading cryptocurrency advertisements. The country has issued variations on these warnings dating back to at least 2018.
Despite its many warnings to consumers, Ireland takes a somewhat permissive stance towards cryptocurrency companies. Gemini Y Binance are among the companies that have obtained regulatory approval to operate in the country in recent years.
