Rebuildingsociety offers promotions advice to Binance
Rebuildingsociety is providing financial promotions compliance advice to Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
The peer-to-peer lending platform – which unveiled its new service for cryptoasset firms at the end of August – said that it has been working to ensure that Binance complies with the high risk investments regime on time.
“We’ll be reviewing and approving various financial promotions and assisting with risk oversight and transparency,” Rebuildingsociety said. “This is an important first step towards the regulation of cryptoassets and we’re pleased to be part of it.”
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced in June that it was introducing marketing restrictions on the cryptoasset sector, which were all set to come into effect on 8 October.
However, last month it said that cryptoasset firms can apply for an extension until 8 January 2024 to implement the 24-hour cooling off period, appropriateness tests and client categorisation features.
All other parts of the new rules – including clear risk warnings on websites and ensuring that adverts are clear, fair and not misleading – came into effect on 8 October 2023.
Binance also unveiled the partnership with Rebuildingsociety in a separate statement, and said that its compliance with the financial promotions regime means that certain products will no longer be available to UK retail investors, including gift cards and referral bonuses.
“Compliance with regulation around the world remains a top priority for Binance,” the firm said. “We are pleased that our partnership with Rebuildingsociety.com allows us to meet our regulatory commitments in the UK and provide uninterrupted service to our users.”
Read more: FCA issues final warning for cryptoasset firms
News of the partnership comes as the Financial Conduct Authority (CA) announced that it had issued 146 alerts about cryptoasset promotions on the first day under the new marketing rules.
“We expect businesses including social media platforms, app stores, search engines, domain name registrars and payments firms to consider the alerts we have issued and play their part in protecting UK consumers from illegal promotions,” the regulator said.
Read more: P2P regulations were “dry run” for crypto
The FCA advised consumers to check the warning list of unauthorised firms before making any investment in crypto.
“We take a risk-based approach, so not all firms of potential concern will be added straightaway,” the FCA added. “This list will be continually updated as we identify firms which may be illegally communicating cryptoasset promotions and are failing to engage with us constructively.
“We also continue to remind people that purchasing cryptoassets remains high-risk and that they should be prepared to lose all their money.”