Finance YouTubers Sued for 1,000,000,000$ after FTX Collapse

Should influencers be liable for their promotions?

Photo by Kanchanara on Unsplash

Eight prominent finance YouTubers including Graham Stephan, Meet Kevin, and Andrei Jikh are being sued for 1$ billion for promoting the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

The finance influencers were sponsored by FTX and their positive endorsements convinced a lot of people to deposit money on FTX. This is the second lawsuit for FTX promotions after celebrities like Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, and Steph Curry were sued last year.

Most people follow Tom Brady because he is pretty good at throwing a football and not because of his investment advice. These YouTubers, however, have built massive followings for precisely that reason. They post about all types of finance topics like stocks, real estate, and cryptocurrencies. A lot of young people especially, trust their opinions. Now, millions of them have lost a lot of money because of their promotions.

We have to ask ourselves: Should celebrities and finance influencers be held responsible for their endorsements?

In Coffeezilla’s video about the lawsuit, Meet Kevin replied to the allegations and while he feels sorry for the victims he denies any responsibility. “The reality is, people have to put on their big-boy pants and realize that if you make a decision because of something you heard online, that’s your responsibility,” he says.

I’m not a lawyer and not an expert on the matter, so I don’t know the specifics of the law and whether the lawsuit has any chance of success. However, it is without question that the finance influencer scene, and cryptocurrencies in particular, severely lack regulations. The FTX promotions have always existed in a gray area because nobody knows whether cryptocurrencies are considered securities or commodities and which regulatory commission is responsible.

The first thing that needs to happen is some cryptocurrency regulations. The focus should be on protecting small-scale investors because they are the ones who always bear the brunt of these collapses — maybe something like a capped insurance like the FDIC for banks. However, the regulations should also allow for innovation in the cryptocurrency scene…