Indian authorities once again demonstrated their tough stance on cryptocurrencies with a preemptive ban on cryptocurrency advertising and sponsorship in the local women’s cricket league.
As Planet Sport reported on February 14, the Board of Control of Cricket of India (BCCI) sent a 68-page notice to teams in the Women’s Premier League, specifying activities that could not be advertised. In the document, cryptocurrencies were mentioned along with the gambling and tobacco industries:
“No franchisee shall enter into a partnership or any type of association with an entity that is in any way connected/related to an entity that is involved/operating, directly or indirectly, in the cryptocurrency sector.”
This follows a previous ban for the men’s cricket Premier League, introduced in 2022. Prior to the ban, the Indian Premier League had collaborated with at least two local crypto exchanges: CoinSwitch Kuber and CoinDCX. Coincidentally, in March 2022, crypto companies decided not to advertise in the Premier League due to liability issues.
Home to some 115 million cryptocurrency investors, In 2022 India introduced two laws requiring crippling taxes on unrealized cryptocurrency-related gains and transactions and forcing its citizens to pay a 30% tax on unrealized cryptocurrency gains.
Some investors had hoped for a change this year to ease pressure on the cryptocurrency sector, but the national budget for 2023 fell short. The country’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman believes in a global regulatory framework on cryptocurrencies, so it is unlikely that the Indian regulatory regime on cryptocurrencies will change autonomously.
Crypto advertising has become a hot topic for global regulators and law enforcement agencies, amid a series of major platform failures and bankruptcies. In the UK, proposed new advertising rules could see executives of cryptocurrency companies face up to two years in prison for failing to meet certain advertising requirements.
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