Hundreds of attendees at one of the accesses to the MundoCrypto event. /
“This is a giant training event, but we don’t need investment advice,” argue those attending the meeting held in Madrid
Despite the controversy that arose around the event and the long list of companies and famous presenters who dropped off after warnings from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), ‘Metaverse Day’, the macro-event on cryptocurrencies organized by MundoCrypto brought together this Saturday in Madrid to 7,000 people without any incident.
Yesterday the Ombudsman announced proceedings before the CNMV and the Community of Madrid due to the controversy that arose. His intention was to find out if Mundocrypto had the necessary permits to hold it after the regulator warned that crypto assets are not a regulated market and a very high-risk financial instrument. Before the event began, the Community of Madrid responded by assuring that “it could not prohibit it” because they would be “appealing to illegality”. It was the advisor to the presidency, Enrique López, who clarified that the regional government does not have powers in the ‘crypto’ event.
All the entrances to the Wizink Center in Madrid were full of ‘crypto fans’ at the beginning of the event. Hundreds of passionate cryptocurrency people, mostly men in their twenties. At the main door, a group of attendees equipped with the MundoCrypto academy shirt explain to this newspaper that they do not understand the controversy that has arisen during this week. The entire group claims to have cryptocurrencies “for many years” and that this is “the best time to invest” despite the fact that bitcoin and other of these currencies have been losing value for weeks. “We see it as a giant training event, but they are not going to give us investment advice, we already know how to do it,” explains one of them.
Event attendees at the main entrance. /
The event has been in the spotlight this week after the CNMV recalled that the organizing company, MundoCrypto, “does not have any type of license to advise on financial instruments or intermediate investment operations on financial instruments.”
Three of the sponsors of the meeting (Bybit, Huobi and Bitget) are considered as financial bars by the supervisor. And MundoCrypto itself is on its so-called ‘grey list’, which has caused companies such as Playstation or Coca Cola to get off the event bandwagon, as well as famous faces such as Cristina Pedroche or Jorge Fernández, initially in charge of presenting the act .
The danger of investing
Although at this time the organizer has removed the event program from its website, it is known that there will be a round table in which renowned economists such as Daniel Lacalle or Juan Ramón Rallo will participate, as well as analysts such as Pablo Gil who, through his social networks, indicated that they have been warning of the risks of these investments for years. Several deputies from El Salvador, the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, will also attend.
The experts consulted show their concern. Alejandro San Nicolás, professor of Social and Legal Sciences at the International University of Valencia (VIU) explains to this newspaper that the event has the danger that people without experience or financial knowledge want to enter the world of cryptocurrencies. In addition, he assures that “it is not the volatility of cryptocurrencies that is the real danger, but investing in something that has nothing behind it.”