The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (“BCAP”) has announced that advertisements for certain types of cryptoassets have been banned from being broadcast to mainstream, non-specialist audiences.

Until now, the BCAP Code regulated the advertisement of these products under a more generic rule that stated that advertisements for “investments not regulated or permitted under FSMA” could only be broadcast on specialised financial channels, stations or programming. However, in 2023 the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) took on the regulation of the advertising of fungible and transferable cryptoassets (so-called ‘qualifying cryptoassets’) and, in turn, determined that the promotion of such qualifying cryptoassets was restricted under the rules relating to ‘restricted mass market investments’ (under COBS 4.12A).

As a result, BCAP has determined that it is necessary to introduce a new provision to the BCAP Code that explicitly addresses such qualifying cryptoassets, explaining that adding this category will “maintain the existing restriction of such products to appropriate specialised broadcast audiences…add more precision to the rule to acknowledge this broad and widespread category of investments that did not exist at the time of the rule’s creation, and remind broadcasters of the statutory restrictions that apply to advertising for them”.

The new rule can be found at 14.5.5 of the BCAP Code and reads as follows:

14.5 These categories of advertisement may be broadcast on specialised financial channels, stations or programming only:

[…]

14.5.5 advertisements for cryptoassets that are transferable and fungible. See FCA guidance on qualifying cryptoassets for more information. The advertised products or services should be available only to clients who have demonstrated through a pre-vetting procedure compliant with the FCA’s appropriateness test that they have relevant financial trading experience.

To read more about the rule change, click here. To read the FCA’s 2023 guidance on cryptoassets financial promotions, click here.