The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned a series of adverts by Coinbase, ruling that they implied cryptocurrency could help ease cost-of-living pressures and downplayed the risks associated with crypto investing.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints from members of the public after the adverts ran in August, depicting Britain in various states of decline alongside a satirical slogan and the Coinbase logo.
The campaign included three poster adverts and a video which portrayed families, businesses and communities struggling amid economic hardship. Scenes highlighted by the ASA included a family home “in a state of disrepair”, a high street with shuttered shops “littered with binbags and rats”, and supermarket shelves marked with signs showing rising prices.
These images were paired with a satirical refrain suggesting everything was “just fine”, followed by the slogan “if everything’s fine don’t change anything”, displayed alongside Coinbase’s branding.
In its ruling, published on Wednesday, the ASA said 35 people had complained that the adverts were irresponsible and trivialised the risks of cryptocurrency, which remains largely unregulated in the UK.
“By presenting the country as failing in areas such as the cost of living and home ownership, the ads implied that consumers should make a financial change,” the watchdog said. It added that the combination of the slogan and Coinbase’s logo suggested the crypto exchange “could be part of the solution to the financial problems stated in the ads”.
The ASA concluded that the adverts breached UK advertising rules and ordered that they must not appear again in their current form.
Coinbase said it disagreed with the decision. In a statement, the company said: “While we respect the ASA’s decision, we fundamentally disagree with the characterisation of a campaign that critically reflects widely reported economic conditions as socially irresponsible.
“The advert was intended to provoke discussion about the state of the financial system and the need to consider better futures, not to offer simplistic solutions or minimise risk.”
The ruling follows repeated warnings from the Financial Conduct Authority, which has told people considering cryptocurrency investments that they should be “prepared to lose all their money” if values collapse.
The ASA has previously taken action against crypto advertising that failed to clearly communicate risk. It has stressed that crypto products are “complex” and “volatile”, and that adverts must make clear when products are not regulated by the FCA and that investors may have no protection if things go wrong.
Responding to the ban, Coinbase acknowledged that digital assets were “not a panacea” for economic challenges, but said it believed “responsible adoption can play a constructive role in a more efficient and freer financial system”.
The decision underscores the UK regulator’s increasingly tough stance on crypto marketing, particularly where advertising is seen to exploit economic anxiety or blur the line between social commentary and financial advice.
