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Facebook Will Permit Some Cryptocurrency Ads To Return

Advertisers can promote cryptocurrency-related services and products, but not initial coin offerings on Facebook, the company said on Tuesday. All advertisers must also be pre-approved.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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Cryptocurrency ads will be allowed to make a comeback on Facebook.

On Tuesday, the company decided to reverse its ban against the ads, but with a couple conditions. First, the advertisers must be pre-approved. Second, no ads promoting initial coin offerings, which are often connected to scams, will be permitted.

Facebook originally announced the ban back in January, near the height of the cryptocurrency craze. According to the company, some of the ads were misleading potential investors with claims of "no-risk." Others mentioned using your retirement funds to buy Bitcoin, which has since dropped from $11,000 in value to $6,100.

"In the last few months, we've looked at the best way to refine this policy — to allow some ads while also working to ensure that they're safe," Facebook said in a blog post, explaining its decision to lift the ban.

"Not everyone who wants to advertise will be able to do so," the company added. To enroll, advertisers must first submit an application, which asks for official documentation including businesses licenses and whether the applicant has been listed on any public stock exchange.

Despite the limitations, the change opens a door for cryptocurrency providers to promote their services and products over a mainstream platform, at a time when interest in the market has been cooling. Other major sites such as Twitter and Google have strict bans against the cryptocurrency ads.

Facebook partially reversed the ban when the company itself has taken a keen interest in blockchain technology, the backbone to many of the popular crytocurrencies on the market. Last month, Facebook executive David Marcus announced he was forming a small team to explore "how to best leverage blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch."

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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