Permission is on the account, then on the ad
Meta’s Transparency Center article on cryptocurrency products and services is the rulebook. Advertisers who want to promote crypto trading platforms, software, or blockchain products that take customer funds must show a recognized regulatory license or registration and obtain written permission through Authorizations and Verifications in Meta Business Suite.
Review is two-step: the ad is classified as in-scope, then the ad account is checked for approval. An in-scope ad on an unapproved account is a violation even if the creative looks quiet.
Needs written permission
Exchanges and trading platforms including spot, margin, and futures. Crypto borrowing and lending. Wallets that add buy, sell, swap, or staking. Mining software. Investment solicitations, including affiliate and aggregator sites that collect people for exchanges. If the landing page is an exchange, the ad is an exchange ad.
Does not need that permission — still not a free-for-all
Meta currently lists tax services, legal/compliance/accounting for crypto businesses, blockchain infrastructure with no token sale, storage-only wallets, crypto news and education that is not investment advice, and event promotion that does not sell tokens. Those ads still cannot promote ICOs, CFDs, or other prohibited financial products, and they still have to follow Community Standards.
ETFs of crypto-company shares
Meta’s Help Center currently says advertisers promoting ETFs made of shares in cryptocurrency companies do not need the crypto eligibility application. That is a securities product with its own financial-services rules. Do not confuse it with promoting a coin.
A sequence if you even qualify
Assume no until the license is in the ticket.
- Name the product the way a regulator would
- Collect the license for every targeted country
- Apply in Business Suite and wait; do not ‘test’ in-scope ads on a clean account
- Keep the landing page inside the approved product
- Age-gate and special-ad-category flags where finance rules require them
Product vs media
If the wallet or exchange is not licensed, paid social is not the problem. Related work at Kiwi: SaaS MVP design and development for a product you can actually operate. We do not broker Meta authorizations.
Frequently asked questions
Is Facebook Ads different from Meta Ads in this policy?
No. Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network sit under Meta’s advertising standards. The crypto article is platform-wide.
Can we run ‘education’ ads that link to a signup for the exchange?
The destination counts. A tutorial that ends in a funded account is an exchange ad. Expect permission requirements.
Do storage-only hardware wallets need permission?
Meta currently carves out wallets that only store and do not buy, sell, swap, or stake. If the landing page also sells a swap, you are back in the restricted bucket. Confirm against the live Transparency Center text before you shoot creative.
Will permission make the ads profitable?
Permission is eligibility. It is not a performance forecast.
Sources
- Meta Transparency Center — Cryptocurrency products and services
- Meta Business Help — Cryptocurrency advertising policy
- Meta Transparency Center — Financial and insurance products
Figures cited above are drawn from the linked publications and are the responsibility of their sources; we date and scope them rather than presenting them as universal guarantees.