Crypto Ads: Google Certification, MiCA and Meta Permission

The table comes from Google's crypto policy and Meta's. If you're running CPA offers for exchanges, start with the affiliate row.

Google's prohibited list names "aggregators or affiliate sites containing related content or broker reviews", along with "cryptocurrency trading signals" and "cryptocurrency investment advice". The exchange might hold every license and you still can't send paid Google traffic through a review page.

Token sales are the other row that ends plans. Google lists "ICO pre-sales or public offerings", "initial DEX offerings" and "token liquidity pools" as prohibited regardless of location. Also on that list is promoting "the purchase, sale, or trade of cryptocurrencies or related products". We read that together with the restricted list: a certified exchange can advertise the service, and the ad should stay on the service rather than sell a coin.

Google only supports crypto ads in approved locations, and the rule for exchanges and software wallets changes with the regulator. The policy page has a location selector. It offered 44 locations when we read it, and Google says that if your location isn't on the list the restricted products can't be advertised there. A sample:

Local law sits on top of this in every row, and Google says so each time. A few practical details from the same page:

• Separate applications. If you advertise in more than one location, you submit a separate application for each location or group of locations.
• Where you apply. Since June 2026 applications run through your Google Ads account, under Policy in the Admin menu, then Account, then Apply for certification.
• Hardware wallets are the exception. They don't need a license, but they still need certification.
• A warning comes first. Google says violations of this policy won't lead to immediate suspension, and that a warning comes at least 7 days before any suspension of your account.

Crypto also falls under Google's financial products policy, which defines the category as the management or investment of "money and cryptocurrencies". That brings disclosure duties: your physical business address, all associated fees and links to any accreditation you claim. They must be "clearly and immediately visible without needing to click or hover over anything". A footer link to a fees PDF doesn't meet that wording.

Meta sends you to the Authorizations and Verifications tab in Meta Business Suite. The application flow asks you to pick an eligible country, give business details, select the ad accounts you want authorized and upload the license or regulatory certification. If the document isn't in English you need an official notarized English translation with the original. Meta says a decision usually arrives within 48 business hours, and that some reviews take longer.

The part that matters for anyone running on more than one account is how review works. Meta checks in two steps: the ad review decides whether the ad is in scope, then the ad account review checks whether that account has been approved. Your ad violates the policy if it's in scope and "your associated ad account hasn't been approved for cryptocurrency". So the permission lives at account level. It can be extended to other ad accounts, and Meta says those accounts must be within the same business portfolio.

Meta's list of accepted licenses is long and specific: AUSTRAC in Australia, the FCA in the UK, FinCEN or a New York BitLicense in the US, BaFin in Germany, VARA and others in the UAE. Read it with one eye on the date. Several EU entries still name national registrations from before MiCA, while MiCA's own transition has ended. If you're an EU firm, confirm which document Meta will accept today before you start a translation.

Lose the license and you can lose the authorization. Meta says the status may be revoked if it determines that you no longer have an active license.

Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 changed who can sell and how they can talk about it.

On who can sell, Article 59 says crypto-asset services can't be provided in the Union by anyone who isn't authorized as a crypto-asset service provider, or one of the entities the regulation allows. Article 143 gave providers already operating a transition "until 1 July 2026" or until they were granted or refused authorization, whichever came first, and member states could shorten it. That window has closed, and ESMA's statement of 23 June 2026 tells unauthorized providers to "cease marketing activities and solicitation" in the EU. ESMA also publishes an Interim MiCA Register, which is the first place to check a partner's claim.

On how they can talk about it, the rules depend on the role:

• Offers of crypto-assets, Article 7. The marketing communication must be clearly identifiable as such, "fair, clear and not misleading", consistent with the white paper, and must point to the published white paper with a website, phone number and email.
• The mandatory statement. The same article requires this sentence, clear and prominent: "This crypto-asset marketing communication has not been reviewed or approved by any competent authority in any Member State of the European Union. The offeror of the crypto-asset is solely responsible for the content of this crypto-asset marketing communication."
• Timing. Where a white paper is required, nothing can be disseminated before it's published.
• Service providers, Article 66. Information to clients has to be fair, clear and not misleading, marketing communications included, and providers must warn clients of the risks.

Try fitting that statement into a 15-second vertical and you'll see why this belongs in the creative brief from day one rather than at legal review. Asset-referenced tokens have their own version in Article 29.

The UK runs its own regime, and it reaches firms based abroad. The FCA says it applies to all firms marketing cryptoassets to UK consumers, whatever the technology, and that the definition covers websites, apps, social media posts and online advertising. There are four routes to lawfully communicate a promotion. Outside them, it's a breach of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act, a criminal offence punishable by up to 2 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

Promotions through the FCA routes also need specific risk warnings and positive frictions, such as a 24-hour cooling-off period. Your funnel has to be built for that wait, which changes how you measure the first conversion.

The platforms line up differently behind this. Google wants FCA registration. X wants registration or authorization and prohibits crypto derivatives. TikTok's UK section allows exchange services, advisory services and custodial wallets with a license and a sales rep, and lists "virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum" as not allowed.

Put this in one folder before the first application. It saves the back and forth that eats launch weeks.

1. The license or registration, as a PDF, plus a notarized English translation if Meta needs one.
2. A one-line product description in the platform's own category, such as exchange, software wallet or hardware wallet. Decide this first, and expect a mixed product to be read at its riskiest function.
3. The target list, country by country, matched against each platform's approved locations.
4. Your legal name, matching the license, the site footer and the billing entity. Keep them identical, because a mismatch hands the reviewer an easy no.
5. A destination that carries the disclosures: address, fees, any claimed accreditation, risk warnings, and the MiCA statement if you're making an offer in the EU.
6. Creative with no return language. Snapchat bars promising guaranteed returns, TikTok bars get-rich-quick offers, and Bigo's India rules stop guaranteed profits and any suggestion of easy money.

Finance adjacent, such as forex and CFDs, has a separate track. Our guide to financial services ads covers it.

No, and be careful with anyone who says otherwise. Certification asks for your license, and Meta's check runs at ad account level. What an agency account can change is who manages the setup, the spend limits and the top ups, and whether you have a person to call. Ask how the approval will be tied to the account you get, and whose business portfolio that account sits in, since Meta's sharing rule depends on it. Accounts in this vertical do get restricted, so read what happens to your balance after a ban before the first top up.

Crypto sits in our Complex tier, so on TikTok and Snapchat the fee is quoted once we've read the license and the market. On Meta, Google, X and Bigo, your rate depends on vertical and volume, and one message in chat gets you the number. Sometimes the honest answer is no. Start from our crypto page, or from Google or Meta agency accounts, and tell us what you sell and where you hold a license. You'll hear what's possible before you pay anything.