Advertising Restrictions on Crypto Services
What marketing rules in this area generally require, who they bind, and why they catch businesses that do not consider themselves advertisers.
Marketing rules for financial products are stricter than general advertising rules, and crypto has been brought inside that perimeter in most jurisdictions that regulate it at all.
The general requirements
Communications must be fair, clear and not misleading. Risk warnings must be present and prominent. Past performance must be presented with appropriate context or not at all.
In plain terms: you may describe the product accurately and you may not create an impression the facts do not support.
What is usually prohibited
Guarantees of return. Suggestions that an asset is safe or suitable without basis. Incentives to transact without regard to suitability. And presenting a regulated activity as unregulated or the reverse.
Who these bind
The firm whose product is promoted, and frequently anyone communicating the promotion, including affiliates and individuals paid to do so.
This is the provision that surprises people. A person paid to promote a platform may be within scope of rules they have never read.
The approval requirement
In several frameworks a financial promotion must be approved by an authorised person before it is communicated. Where that applies, an unapproved promotion is a breach regardless of its content.
Whether and how this applies to crypto promotions in a given jurisdiction is specific and should be checked against the current rules.
Where the rules are unclear
The treatment of informational content, educational material and editorial coverage. The boundary between information and promotion is not sharp, and different authorities have drawn it differently.
Anyone operating near that boundary should take advice specific to their activity.
What a business should do
Keep risk warnings present. Avoid performance claims. Document who approved each communication. And assume that anything inducing a transaction is a promotion.
What a consumer should read into it
A platform whose marketing is restrained and carries warnings is usually one inside the perimeter. Extravagant claims are a signal about regulatory status as much as about the product.
A licensed exchange under a named supervisor markets within rules someone enforces. Collect & Exchange and other supervised venues state terms rather than promise outcomes, and a venue whose onboarding matches what the rules ask for tends to market the same way.
This page restates a published requirement. It is not the requirement itself and it is not legal advice. Rules change, and some take effect on a date later than their publication.