UK watchdog calls out Kardashian West's Instagram crypto ad

A British financial regulator, raising concern about the lack of rules for online promotion of cryptocurrencies, has called out celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian West’s use of her Instagram account to pitch Ethereum Max to her followers

LONDON -- A British financial regulator concerned about the lack of rules for online promotion of cryptocurrencies has called out celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian West’s use of her Instagram account to pitch Ethereum Max to her followers. Charles Randell, chair of the Financial Conduct Authority, said Kardashian was recently paid to ask her 250 million Instagram followers to speculate on crypto tokens by “joining the Ethereum Max Community." He noted Kardashian disclosed that the post was an ad, as required by Instagram’s rules. “But she didn’t have to disclose that Ethereum Max – not to be confused with Ethereum – was a speculative digital token created a month before by unknown developers – one of hundreds of such tokens that fill the crypto-exchanges," Randell said in a speech Monday to the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime, according to a transcript posted online.