Kim Kardashian to Pay $1.3 Million to SEC for Crypto Touting Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:03) Kim Kardashian is being made an example of. Wall Street's main regulator punished the reality TV star for not being 100% clear that she was paid to promote a cryptocurrency to her Instagram followers in summer 2021. Kim will pay a fine of one and a quarter million dollars, more than five times what she was paid by EthereumMax to plug EMAX tokens. She's also agreed not to promote for pay any crypto asset for the next three years. The Securities and Exchange Commission went big with its enforcement, announcing it first thing Monday morning before the market opened, with a fancy YouTube video to go along with it. Kim's not the first celebrity to get fined for her lack of disclosure. The SEC went after Boxer, Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled in 2018. Speaker 1: (00:45) Analysts say this was SEC Commissioner Gary Gensler's way of sending a message to other influencers. You need to follow securities law and make it clear that you're getting paid to sell something. He's also giving notice to the crypto world at large. It's time to come in and register as a broker or exchange with us. And if you don't be prepared to face enforcement. The crypto world is resisting. They argue that the old rules don't work well for something decentralized like crypto. And if anything, digital assets should be classified as commodities, which conveniently enough aren't covered by the SEC's strict investor protection rules.