Will new regulations like Sebi’s bring about the demise of global ‘finfluencers’?

New study reveals how much income crypto & financial influencers could lose if TikTok is banned.

Financial social media influencers have been a popular way for budding traders – particularly those in the Gen Z demographic – to learn about cryptocurrency and better understand the market.

In fact, the World Economic Forum suggested Gen Z is about five times more likely to solicit financial advice from influencers and another survey found that, among 14 to 18 year olds, 58 percent followed TikTok ‘finfluencers’.

However, news of the U.S. considering a ban on TikTok could cut off a huge revenue stream for crypto influencers, with Montana recently becoming the first state to ban TikTok on personal devices.

Considering these findings, a new data-led study by cryptocurrency news service NewsBTC analysed the biggest finance and crypto influencers on TikTok to find out what their potential monthly loss of earnings could be if TikTok is banned in the United States.

NewsBTC did this by calculating what the estimated total earnings are for top crypto and financial influencers and dividing that by the number of months they had been active on the platform.

Total earnings were calculated using the TikTok Money Calculator on Influencer Marketing Hub which takes the number of videos and engagement rate into account when providing earning estimations.

NewsBTC’s research shows 23-year-old Mason Versluis – @cryptomasun – a successful cryptocurrency investor and influencer from Canada with a huge following, would have the highest estimated monthly loss of earnings in NewsBTC’s crypto seed list.

He is a prolific TikToker and YouTuber whose videos have attracted over seven million views to date. On TikTok alone, his channel @cryptomasun has 1.2 million passionate and dedicated crypto investors and he could lose an estimated $61,243.00 if TikTok was banned in the States.

@cryptowendyo is in second position. She has 260,400 TikTok followers and it’s estimated could lose around $59,464.00 per month if there was a TikTok ban.

CryptoWendyO publishes weekly YouTube trading shows and posts daily TikTok videos. She has a large TikTok audience, of which nearly half are female. This highlights her ability to build a more balanced gender viewership in a niche normally dominated by male influencers.

Her most-watched video on TikTok, with more than 500,000 views, describes a method to play the crypto markets after an investment grows, dubbed the “moon bag.”

NewsBTC also produced a second list in its study, which focuses on the potential loss of earning for general financial influencers too.

In first position, for the highest potential estimated monthly loss of earnings is Tori Dunlap, whose financial education TikTok account is @herfirst100k. She has 2,200,000 TikTok followers and could lose an estimated $601,800 a month if TikTok was banned.

Dunlap gained a following, blogging about her journey to save $100,000 by the time she was 25. She achieved this goal three months after her 25th birthday and quit her job to focus on turning her blog, Her First $100K, into a financial literacy brand.

Dunlap’s main aim is to help women fight financial inequality and take control of their money. However, if her TikTok side-hustle was to expire, Tori has many other successful business ventures to fall back on.

These include her podcast ‘Financial Feminist’, which has earned the top spot in Spotify’s business category with over 8 million downloads. Plus, she’s released a book by the same name, which became an instant New York Times bestseller.

In second place on the financial influencers list is Vivian Tu, known as @yourrichbff on TikTok. She has a slightly higher number of followers at 2,400,000, but her estimated loss in monthly earnings would be significantly less at around $159,544.

Like Tori Dunlap, Vivian has lucrative business deals in the pipeline, beyond her potential TikTok earning potential. It was recently announced she’s signed with entertainment agency WME to expand her business in areas like TV, podcasts, books, and brand partnerships.

As we can see, having a higher number of followers on TikTok, does not equate to the biggest potential financial losses, which is evident in both the crypto and general finance lists.

For example, @cryptoprojects has 1,400,000 followers, but is only seventh on the crypto list, in terms of potential monthly financial losses. @cryptomasun is in first place, with only the third highest number of followers on the crypto shortlist.

This is because financial earnings are worked out by an influencer’s total number of videos and the actual engagement rate with their content, rather than solely focusing on the number of people who might look at their content.

Even if there is not a blanket ban on the TikTok app, it is certainly going to become harder for influencers to make money from the platform, due to its recent policy changes.

In July, TikTok introduced a policy that automatically blocks videos violating its guidelines and updated its branded content policy. Now it can prevent the promotion of financial services – including cryptocurrencies – unless users disclose it through a branded content option in the app.

Jonathan Millet, Business Consultant at NewsBTC commented on the findings:

“TikTok is clearly breaking down some of the financial barriers consumers faced before it existed. Today, the free platform is making financial advice more accessible than ever before.

“Financial literacy is important for all demographics, and incorporating financial information and advice into our social feeds is an easy way to become more educated in these areas.

“However, users should be encouraged to fact-check information and speak with a professional financial advisor before acting on any advice to ensure further clarity and that all details are correct.”