Facebook has walked back on its decision to ban crypto advertisement on its platform. Meta, Facebook’s mother company, unveiled this news on December 1, noting that this decision comes after expanding the number of regulatory licenses it accepts. Reportedly, this change of heart comes as the firm believes the crypto space has continued maturing and stabilizing over the years.
According to the announcement, Facebook is resuming crypto ads because governments across the globe are increasingly introducing clear regulations for the crypto space. By making these changes, the company hopes to make its policy in the budding crypto space more equitable and transparent to help more advertisers grow their businesses by reaching out to potential customers seamlessly.
The publication read,
“Starting today, we’re updating our eligibility criteria for running ads about cryptocurrency on our platform by expanding the number of regulatory licenses we accept from three to 27. We are also making the list of eligible licenses publicly available on our policy page.”
Some rules will stay in place
Before lifting the crypto ads ban, the social giant needed advertisers to submit an application and include information on the licenses they had secured. Facebook also mandated companies to disclose whether they trade on a public stock exchange, among other public details of their business. However, companies can now advertise on Facebook by securing one of the 27 licenses it accepts.
The announcement detailed that this change would not impact advertisers that were already approved. Additionally, the list of products and services that require pre-approval has not changed. Facebook will also require prior written approval from crypto exchanges, crypto lenders, crypto wallets, and crypto miners.
Facebook added that these rules are subject to change, seeing as the crypto space is evolving rapidly. Possible changes include adding eligible licenses as they become available.
More crypto adoption to come
According to Henry Love, a former employee on Facebook’s small business team, the platform’s new policies are bullish for the crypto space, seeing as more retail investors will now have access to the crypto market.
Love, currently a Managing Partner at Fundamental Labs, pointed out that,
“With more openness and transparency for what crypto companies can do, we will see more adoption for the cryptocurrency industry and the metaverse than ever before. This is a game changer for mass adoption.”
Emad Hasan, the CEO of Retina AI and a former Facebook employee, believes this policy change is a massive boost for blockchain startups because they previously couldn’t advertise on Facebook.
This news comes after Facebook banned crypto ads in January 2018. The platform scaled back on this ban in June 2019, allowing advertisers with prior written approval to post ads. The company made these changes to create a smooth path for its crypto ambitions, which involved launching a global stablecoin dubbed Diem and crypto wallet titled Novi.
While Facebook managed to launch Novi, regulators opposed its idea of the stablecoin, citing a threat to financial systems. With its crypto plans hitting a snag, the company decided to venture into the metaverse and rebranded to Meta.
