Poland’s central bank has resorted to paying a YouTube star to make a video about a digital currency crash to highlight the risks of investing in the market.
According to a report from CNBC, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) paid 91,221.99 Polish zloty ($26,764) on Gamellon, a YouTube partner network that features a number of well-known bloggers. The YouTube star who made the video was Marcin Dubiel, who has nearly one million subscribers to his YouTube channel.
Posting a video titled ‘Stracilem Wszystkie Pieniadze?!,’ which translates to ‘I lost all my money,’ it follows a character who purchases digital currency that, subsequently, crashes. So far the video has garnered over half a million views.
In an attempt to deter citizens from investing in the cryptocurrency market, the NBP launched a campaign, with the intention of warning the public about the risks associated with the industry.
In an email to CNBC, a NBP spokesperson said:
The result of this campaign is that people who were interested in investing in cryptocurrencies either refrain from these actions (which could bring them substantial losses) or are fully aware when they take them and consciously accept the associated risk. NBP decided to conduct the campaign via digital and traditional media.
Notably, even though there have been many measures put into place from governments to stem the tide of digital currency investing, it would seem that this is the first instance of a central bank using a YouTube video to highlight concerns.
However, while Poland’s central bank isn’t too keen on cryptocurrencies, it is more favourable toward the blockchain. The spokesperson did add, though, that ‘…the use of this technology in financial markets must be as safe and tested as in the case of other technologies.’
Mark Carney, the Bank of England’s Governor, said earlier this week that bitcoin had ‘failed‘ as a currency. Cecilia Skingsley, Deputy Governor at the Swedish Central Bank, has made the claim that bitcoin isn’t even a currency. Whereas, Robert Shiller, Nobel-prize winning economist, said in January that bitcoin won’t become a ‘permanent feature‘ in the finance world.
Such negativity toward the industry, however, doesn’t seem to be stemming the tide of interest with investors continuing to trade in the market.