The Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) is the new entity in charge of supervising and regulating all advertising campaigns from the cryptocurrency industry, including, among them, bitcoin. The measure was part of a reform of the law subscribed to the Royal Decree-Law, a mechanism activated to provide financial and legal support to the Spanish economy.

With the reform of the law, approved by the Extraordinary Council of Ministers on March 12, the CNMV will now be able to stipulate what kind of advertising content cryptocurrency companies can disseminate. Likewise, the possibility that all advertising is subject to prior authorization.

That is, now any physical or digital advertisement made by a cryptocurrency company that operates in Spain must comply with a series of measures, which have not yet been disclosed. However, it is known that the authority will not be able to prevent such advertisements from being released on the market or circulating on social networks.

This is an unexpected modification of the law, since crypto assets are one of the few financial sectors that were outside the regulatory perimeter of the CNMV. The entity has been in charge of supervising the advertising content spread by brokerage houses, fund managers, banks, bond issuers and even investment funds and derivatives. The authority has the power to request rectifications in the advertising of the financial sector, and even the cessation of advertising activities in a period of 3 days.

However, because There is no specific law for cryptocurrencies in Spain, companies in this sector have been operating at the advertising level without the tutelage of the government. A reality that seems to be bothering the CNMV board of directors, who have warned the population about the supposed risks of investing in crypto assets today.

Bitcoin does not have the approval of the Spanish authorities

Despite the fact that the cryptocurrency market in Spain is in full growth, the reality is that the authorities do not see the current behavior of crypto assets with good eyes. Rodrigo Buenaventura, president of the CNMV, recently asked society for prudence when it comes to getting involved with cryptocurrencies and advised not to invest “in anything that is not understood.”

In an address, Buenaventura pointed out that it is easy to “be dazzled by the price rises of cryptocurrencies”, especially when bitcoin is currently enjoying one of its best rallies . However, the president of the CNMV recalled that cryptocurrencies are not financial instruments regulated or supervised by Spanish entities . Due to this, users are unprotected against any unforeseen event with companies in this sector.

On the other hand, Montserrat Martínez, vice president of the CNMV, also made similar statements to local newspapers. “As long as we do not have a clear framework, we must always ask ourselves if we understand the product and the risks they assume with an operation,” he said. Both managers consider that a bubble may be forming around the price of Bitcoin , for which they believe it is necessary for Spanish citizens to take forecasts with this ecosystem.

Beyond the position that the Spanish regulatory authorities may have before the cryptocurrency industry, it is curious that in an emergency decree created to address the coronavirus crisis a measure has been strained for the cryptoactive market. Various sources point out that the decision may be caused by the recent advertising campaign of the exchange Spanish, Bit2Me, who had physical advertisements in various areas of the city of Madrid and Barcelona.

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