The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. Shutterstock/ IB Photography

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Wednesday that crypto-asset promotions do not sufficiently highlight the risk involved, the watchdog said in a statement.

The FCA found that risk warnings were not visible due to small fonts, hard-to-read colouring or non-prominent positioning.

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The watchdog urged crypto-asset firms to take regulatory obligations seriously and warned it would place restrictions on infringing firms. Earlier this month, the FCA placed restrictions on rebuildingsociety.com under the Financial Services and Markets Act for promoting unregistered crypto-asset firms.

Since 8 October 2023, firms wishing to promote cryptoassets in the UK must, by law, be authorised or registered by the FCA, or have their marketing approved by an authorised firm. All crypto services have been switched to the high-risk investment category for marketing materials since then.

Under FCA rules, promotions must also be clear, fair and not misleading, labelled with prominent risk warnings and must not inappropriately incentivise people to invest.

Crypto firms will also be named and shamed if they refuse to follow new expanded rules on how they sell their products.

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The FCA said it had issued 221 alerts to firms illegally promoting crypto-assets to UK customers since the promotional regulations came into effect.

“Even with the new marketing rules, cryptoassets still remain high-risk and largely unregulated. If something goes wrong, it is unlikely people will have access to consumer protections, so should be prepared to lose all their money,” the FCA statement said.

Earlier this month, the FCA fined credit rater Equifax £11m ($13.4m) for failing to protect the personal data of 13.8 million UK customers in one of the largest-ever data breaches.