FCA issued 450 warnings to crypto firms in the final months of 2023

The FCA says it’s been in contact with firms that are not following the new guidelines

article-image

Ascannio/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority says it issued 450 warnings between October and December to firms promoting crypto illegally. 

The FCA removed 35 apps from the App Store by the end of December, according to a press release on Wednesday.

Last year, the FCA instilled new guidelines to crack down on crypto promotions. The new rules impacted companies including Binance. Back in October, the FCA cracked down on Rebuilding Society, a named Binance partner. 

At the time, the FCA said that it had targeted 146 crypto companies in warnings following the rules. 

The regulatory body added Wednesday that it reviewed 44 crypto companies registered with the FCA.

Read more: FCA issues another warning to unregistered crypto firms as promotional rules take effect

“These reviews included websites, mobile apps, social media and advertising. We found significant levels of non-compliance with our rules,” the FCA said.

Firms have received feedback from the FCA which outlined the agency’s “concerns and asked them to take action to rectify the breaches and conduct full reviews of their promotions to ensure they are compliant with our rules.”

The FCA noted that there were several “themes” that came up, including the use of influencers to promote crypto firms, “generic” risk summaries, and small fonts on top of positioning that make risk warnings hard to read. 

“We remain concerned that regulated firms are not doing enough to meet their own obligations when providing support services, such as payment services, to crypto firms that are illegally promoting to UK consumers, the FCA said.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) represent low-hanging fruit in a massive market ripe for Web3-driven disruption. The global CDN market was valued at ~$28B in 2024, and is projected to surpass $140B by 2034, (18.75% CAGR) underscoring the immense demand for efficient content delivery.

article-image

US dollars might technically be worth less, but it’s still good news

article-image

Apps are doing well, as is casino gaming, says Tom Schmidt of Dragonfly

article-image

Sponsored

Machine DeFi brings programmable peer-to-peer finance into contact with tangible machines that generate real-world value

article-image

What happens to your investment portfolio when the companies driving returns are no longer in it?

article-image

Wow, the ETF hype sure didn’t last long

article-image

The private sector lost 33,000 jobs in June; analysts had projected payrolls to add 100,000 positions