Poland's central bank and chief financial regulator admitted Saturday that they were paying for negative coverage of crypto on YouTube and Facebook.
Viewers discovered the connection when a popular Polish YouTuber, Marcin Dubiel, posted a video claiming to have lost all his money investing in crypto. The description included a hashtag #uwazajnakryptowaluty, the same name as a Polish government-sponsored anti-crypto website.
The front page plasters the slogan "Waluta wirtualna to nie pieniądz," or "virtual currency is not money." Beyond that stern introduction, the site appears to have run-of-the-mill warnings about the risks involved in investment, lack of central authority backing, and warnings of fraud.
According to money.pl, the National Bank of Poland confirmed sponsorship of the video and other media in a negative campaign. A letter from the bank said that that campaign "included paid promotion."
Other popular Polish channels, including Planeta Faktów (Planet of Facts) have also been paid. Dubiel never admitted the sponsorship, although the Polish government said it paid him from a pot of 91.2 PLN (about $27,221 as of writing). The video has over 500,000 views on a channel with over 900,000 subscribers.
Some commenters were skeptical about the story in the video even two months before the revelations of government contacts.
"It's called working with the YouTubers and paying them to discourage us from investing in Bitcoin," user Kuberbull wrote according to a Google Translate interpretation.
Two weeks ago, YouTube announced it would start publishing notices of government-sponsored content on its site. However, no such notice appears on Dubiel's video, as it was posted in early December.
In late January, the polish cabinet accepted legislation that would bring coin exchanges under anti-money laundering (AML) rules. 2018 thus far has seen stricter government policy on bitcoin and its alternatives. Various governments have taken a range of positions, including stricter policies in China, India, and South Korea. The new Polish laws should be in effect within three months.
Viewers discovered the connection when a popular Polish YouTuber, Marcin Dubiel, posted a video claiming to have lost all his money investing in crypto. The description included a hashtag #uwazajnakryptowaluty, the same name as a Polish government-sponsored anti-crypto website.
The front page plasters the slogan "Waluta wirtualna to nie pieniądz," or "virtual currency is not money." Beyond that stern introduction, the site appears to have run-of-the-mill warnings about the risks involved in investment, lack of central authority backing, and warnings of fraud.
According to money.pl, the National Bank of Poland confirmed sponsorship of the video and other media in a negative campaign. A letter from the bank said that that campaign "included paid promotion."
Other popular Polish channels, including Planeta Faktów (Planet of Facts) have also been paid. Dubiel never admitted the sponsorship, although the Polish government said it paid him from a pot of 91.2 PLN (about $27,221 as of writing). The video has over 500,000 views on a channel with over 900,000 subscribers.
Some commenters were skeptical about the story in the video even two months before the revelations of government contacts.
"It's called working with the YouTubers and paying them to discourage us from investing in Bitcoin," user Kuberbull wrote according to a Google Translate interpretation.
Two weeks ago, YouTube announced it would start publishing notices of government-sponsored content on its site. However, no such notice appears on Dubiel's video, as it was posted in early December.
In late January, the polish cabinet accepted legislation that would bring coin exchanges under anti-money laundering (AML) rules. 2018 thus far has seen stricter government policy on bitcoin and its alternatives. Various governments have taken a range of positions, including stricter policies in China, India, and South Korea. The new Polish laws should be in effect within three months.