Firms warned of common failings in crypto investment promotions

The FCA is issuing alerts at the rate of 13 a day under the powers it acquired on 8 October to supervise cryptoasset promotions. Some 221 alerts were issued in the first 17 days, according to theregulator. Andrestrictionswere imposed on one firm,rebuildingsociety.com, on the third day of the new regime.

By Neasa MacErlean

The Financial Conduct Authority now highlights the three most common failings it is seeing. These are: promotions making claims on the 'safety', 'security' or ease of using cryptoasset services without highlighting the risk involved; risk warnings that are not sufficiently visible (mainly due to small fonts, hard-to-read colouring or non-prominent positioning); and not giving enough information on the specific risks of particular products.