Meta expands eligibility for running cryptocurrency ads
Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc., released a statement Wednesday 1st Dec saying they are “making it easier to run ads about cryptocurrency on our platform”, expanding the number of accepted regulatory licenses from 3 to 27. For the first time, Meta is also publicly listing the accepted licenses on their policy page.
Previously, advertising approval required the submission of several pieces of information to determine a company’s eligibility, including if they were publicly traded and the licenses they held. Now, the process requires an onboarding form and a copy of the license for one of the 27 accepted, that in Australia being an AUSTRAC Registration.
“…over the years the cryptocurrency landscape has matured and stabilized and experienced an increase in government regulation, which has helped to set clearer responsibilities and expectations for the industry,” the statement reads. “Going forward, we will be moving away from using a variety of signals to confirm eligibility and instead requiring one of these 27 licenses.”
Written permission is still required from Meta to advertise products like cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets allowing buying, selling, swapping or staking crypto, and mining hardware or software.
“Cryptocurrency continues to be an evolving space and we may refine these rules over time as the industry changes. This includes adding eligible licenses to the list as they become available and after we have reviewed them.”
Not all crypto companies will hold the required licenses to advertise. As CEO and co-founder of the mobile crypto wallet ZenGo, Ouriel Ohayon, stated that “2% of all crypto related services” will be eligible to run ads on Meta’s platform, and that only “custodial centralized services” won’t be affected.
Exchanges like Binance.US and FTX.US do not hold the accepted licenses, at least in the U.S., and they won’t be able to run ads on Meta’s platform. Binance Australia, and FTX (via its subsiary Hive Empire Trading Pty Ltd) both hold the required AUSTRAC license to run ads and could seemingly do so, although it’s assumed only in those of territories they are licensed.