The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the UK recently ordered the withdrawal or editing of more than 10,000 finance-based advertisements last year. FCA is an independent regulatory agency operating in the United Kingdom, which has published a report containing details of the financial ads. The same report also lists all regulatory violations and reactions against these crypto-based adverts.
Illegal Crypto Advertisement
On 14th February, the agency released a report that contained a detailed list of cryptocurrency advertisements that have been classified as non-compliant. It is worth noting that FCA implemented stricter laws against misleading cryptocurrency marketing campaigns in October last year. The agency has noted that regulated and unregulated cryptocurrency agencies reviews have highlighted common issues with both organizations.
Some of the risks that FCA relayed to these ads included generic risk summaries, lack of product-specific risk declarations, and fake regulated status. At the same time, FCA noted that some crypto-services providers have made claims about secure, safe, and accessible crypto services without providing solid proof or evidence to back their claims.
At the same time, the regulatory agency has also issued a warning noting that it intends to take action against continued policy violations.
Financial Conduct Authority Increases Customer Alerts Against Crypto Firms
The FCA officials issued a total of 450 consumer alerts between October and December last year. An official notification issued on this matter indicates that the agency is currently focused on helping tech firms remove and block illegal adverts from applications, websites, and social media platforms.
FCA claims that this has resulted in the removal of 35 applications getting delisted from various app stores by December 2023.
FCA has also issued a warning to multiple crypto entities about refraining from financing illegal crypto adverts in 2024. To this end, FCA has also expressed grave concerns about crypto trading platforms failing to comply with regulatory obligations. FCA opines that various organizations have continued to collaborate with cryptocurrency firms and sponsor illegal product-to-consumer services to customers in the UK.
On the same page, FCA issued an order to crypto firms in breach of its advertisement policies to either wholly withdraw or edit their marketing campaigns. The regulator has listed around 10,000 financial services advertisements targeting UK consumers in 2023.
FCA has also highlighted that for 2023, the firm has received more than 24 thousand complaints about unauthorized entities. The regulator has also encouraged consumers to report any suspicious advertisements and potential scam attempts.
Stablecoin Staking Bill
Bim Afolami is the Economic Secretary of the Treasury Department of the United Kingdom. He recently spoke at a Coinbase event in London. The Minister briefed Bloomberg about a new stablecoin and staking regulatory framework on 19th February.
As per the government official, the regulations can be expected to go live in the upcoming 6 months. At the same time, Afolami noted that the government agencies are aiming to ensure that the new legislator is finalized before the general election season set to take place later this year.
However, he refrained from disclosing any finer details of the crypto regulatory program. Answering a query from the journalists, he noted that he is not aware of any particulars from the expected regulatory framework.
However, he noted that the legislators are committed to ensuring that the new framework is on the rails in the upcoming 6 months. The new regulatory framework seems to resonate with the pledge of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about establishing the UK as an international crypto hub in 2022.
The Law Commission of the country has since issued 4 major recommendations to edit the local laws regarding cryptocurrency usage and propriety. One of these amendments includes the classification of cryptocurrencies as personal property to protect the unique attributes of digital assets.
The local government has also claimed that it is planning to introduce hyper-specific crypto-related regulations in 2024 and appoint FCA as the main regulator to regulate fiat-backed stablecoins.
