Crypto promotion rules in the UK: the risk warning, cooling-off and what changes in 2027

Who can promote cryptoassets

Since the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 amended section 21, “investment” in that section expressly includes cryptoassets. On 9 October 2023 the FCA summarised the regime that began the day before: “Since 8 October 2023, firms wishing to promote cryptoassets in the UK must, by law, be authorised or registered by the FCA, or have their marketing approved by an authorised firm” (FCA, 9 October 2023).

1. An authorised firm communicates itUnder the FCA's financial promotion rules.
2. An authorised firm approves itSince 7 February 2024, the approver needs the FCA's permission to approve for others, unless an exemption covers it.
3. A registered crypto firm communicates itArticle 73ZA of the Financial Promotion Order exempts a firm registered with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations when it promotes itself.
4. Another exemption appliesOne of the Order's other exemptions, where it extends to cryptoassets.

✕ Outside these routes, communicating the promotion is a criminal offence (FSMA section 25).

The approval route is covered in section 21 approval and the gateway.

Two limits on the third and fourth routes catch firms out. A registered crypto firm can communicate its own promotions, but “Registered persons are not able to approve financial promotions for the purposes of section 21 of the Act” (PERG 8.14.40DG(6)). And several common exemptions do not reach cryptoassets: article 51 of the Order, for example, “does not apply if the communication relates to a qualifying cryptoasset”.

The prescribed risk warning

Qualifying cryptoassets are restricted mass market investments. A promotion of one to retail clients must carry this warning:

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.

Where a third-party platform's character limit means the full warning will not fit, COBS 4.12A.11R(2)(a) allows the short form “Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest.”

In digital media, the warning must also include a link to a risk summary, in the form “Take 2 mins to learn more” (COBS 4.12A.11R(3)). The link can be left out only where the medium cannot carry one. Where a platform's character limit applies, the link is still needed but need not use those words.

Display advert

EExample Markets

Buy, sell and hold crypto

Get started

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more

Social post

9:41

examplemarketsSponsored

Join 1 million crypto investors

2,184 likes

examplemarkets Sign up today and get £20 in bitcoin. Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. … more

No incentives to invest

A firm must not communicate or approve a financial promotion which relates to a restricted mass market investment and which offers to a retail client any monetary or non-monetary incentive.

The FCA's guidance lists examples (COBS 4.12A.8G): bonuses when investing, bonuses for referring someone else, cashback, discounts or rebates on fees linked to trading volumes, additional free investments and free gifts such as laptops or mobile phones. The narrow exceptions in the rule do not cover cryptoassets, apart from incentives offered only to move an existing holding from one provider to another.

Before the first investment

The FCA's “back end” rules govern the journey after the advert. A firm must not make a direct offer to a retail client (a promotion that invites the client to invest and says how to respond) unless four conditions are met (COBS 4.12A.15R):

1. A personalised risk warning“[Client name], this is a high-risk investment. How would you feel if you lost the money you're about to invest? Take 2 mins to learn more.” (COBS 4.12A.20R)
2. A 24-hour cooling-off period“A period of at least 24 hours” before the direct offer is communicated, after which the client chooses to leave or continue, with both options equally prominent (COBS 4.12A.18R).
3. Client categorisationThe client is certified as a high net worth, sophisticated or restricted investor. Self-certified sophisticated status is not available for cryptoassets (COBS 4.12A.21R).
4. An appropriateness assessmentThe firm may process the order only once it has assessed that the investment is appropriate for the client (COBS 4.12A.28R).

The personalised warning and the cooling-off period are needed only the first time a firm makes a direct offer to a particular client, and the appropriateness assessment only the first time for each type of investment. Categorisation applies to every direct offer: the client's statement must have been signed in the previous 12 months (COBS 4.12A.16G). The FCA has published good and poor practice from its review of how firms apply these rules.

Social media and memes

The FCA's finalised social media guidance names crypto directly: “The use of memes in promotions is particularly prevalent in the cryptoasset sector” (FG24/1, paragraph 2.37). A meme, a short video or a post in an invitation-only Telegram group can each be a financial promotion. Each must comply on its own, with the risk warning in the promotion itself, not only in the caption. See finfluencer rules in the UK.

Enforcement

The FCA enforced the regime from its first day:

alerts about crypto promotions on the regime's first day

146

consumer alerts about illegal crypto promotions in its first year

1,702

scam crypto websites taken down in its first year

900+

apps removed from UK app stores in its first year

56

Section 21 also reaches overseas exchanges: it applies to communications from outside the UK that are capable of having an effect in the UK. On 10 February 2026, the FCA announced that it “has begun legal proceedings against global crypto exchange HTX (formerly Huobi) for illegally promoting cryptoasset services to UK consumers” (FCA, 10 February 2026). The claim was issued in the Chancery Division of the High Court on 21 October 2025, and had not been decided when the FCA last updated its case page, on 20 October 2026. Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, called it “the first time we've taken enforcement action against a crypto firm illegally marketing their products to UK consumers”.

What changes on 25 October 2027

The UK is bringing cryptoasset activities into full FCA regulation.

1. 8 Oct 2023Crypto promotions regime beginsPromotions brought within section 21.
2. 7 Feb 2024The approval gatewayApprovers need the FCA's permission to approve for others.
3. 30 Sep 2026Application window opensFor firms with existing UK cryptoasset business.
4. 28 Feb 2027UpcomingApplication window closesThe last day to apply and benefit from the saving provision.
5. 25 Oct 2027UpcomingThe new regime takes effectNew cryptoasset activities come into the FCA's perimeter, with new promotion rules.

The registered-firm route narrows. The FCA's perimeter guidance says:

As of 25 October 2027, the exemption is only available to a person within scope of regulation 53 of the Cryptoassets Regulations.

Regulation 53 is a saving provision for firms that applied in the window and whose applications have not been decided, or were refused but are still open to review. It lapses two years after the regime fully commences. A firm that relies on its registration to promote its own services therefore needs to have applied within the window. Approval from an authorised firm covers only a promotion, not the business behind it: the FCA says firms “currently relying on a s.21 financial promotions approver will need to be authorised if they are within scope of a regulated cryptoasset activity” (FCA, cryptoasset regime overview).

Stablecoin promotions get their own rules. Under the FCA's final rules (PS26/13), qualifying stablecoins issued by a firm with UK permission to issue them stop being restricted mass market investments, so the warning, incentive ban, cooling-off and appropriateness rules no longer apply to them. Every other qualifying cryptoasset stays in the category. A promotion of any other qualifying stablecoin must carry a warning of its own:

This stablecoin is not issued by a person with permission in the UK for issuing stablecoins. Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.

Adverts for new listings carry disclosure rules. Where a qualifying cryptoasset is to be admitted to trading on a UK platform open to retail investors and needs a disclosure document, any advert for the admission must also meet CRYPTO 3.12. Among other things, it must say where the disclosure document can be obtained and include the word “advertisement” prominently (PS26/9).

A checklist for every crypto promotion

Connor checks crypto adverts, posts, videos and web pages against these rules and the rules of every other market a promotion targets, and cites the rule behind each finding.