UK FCA Accused of Failure to Crackdown on Crypto Ads

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom has failed to act on the illegal crypto promotions and related ads parading the region. This comes after the FCA kickstarted a crackdown effort and issued over 1,700 alerts between October 2023 and October 2024. As a result, the regulator is facing criticism from members of the broader crypto community. 

FCA Fails to Discharge Duties

Ordinarily, the UK FCA reserves the right to impose fines and initiate criminal cases against violators. 

As part of its efforts towards eradicating these crypto ads, the FCA has successfully secured voluntary agreements from tech giants like Google and Meta to ban non-compliant paid advertisements. Also, it has urged defaulters to takedown such ads.

So far, only 54% of these non-compliant crypto ads have been successfully removed, leaving the UK with 782 such ads. 

The agency is more concerned with social media influencers. This group of influencers is commonly referred to as “finfluencers,” and they are known for promoting unauthorized financial products online. 

FCA Indicts Finfluencers Over Crypto Product Ads

In the opinion of critics, the lack of tangible penalties has contributed to undermining the initiative’s effectiveness. 

Still, it is worth noting that the FCA has released enforcement actions on some entities. Recently, the FCA levied criminal charges against about nine social media influencers accused of promoting unauthorized financial products, including high-risk crypto derivatives.

Based on their involvement in illegal promotions on platforms like Instagram, some defendants, who gained notoriety on reality television shows such as Love Island and The Only Way Is Essex, also faced prosecution. Many other “finfluencers” are also under the radar of the UK FCA. 

UK FCA Plans For Stricter Crypto Regulation 

In mid-December, the agency took an important step in regulating the growing crypto industry. 

Precisely, it released a discussion paper on its proposed rules for cryptocurrencies. One of the main ideas in the paper is to ban public sales of cryptocurrencies. Others are market rules and the disclosure requirements for crypto assets. It also addresses the need for a strong system to prevent market abuse. 

Implementing new rules and regulations is challenging for the regulator, but enforcing them is necessary.