The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), Belgium’s financial markets watchdog, starting May 17, 2023, will begin enforcing a new regulation Regulation Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Read this Term aimed at monitoring advertisements (ads) targeted at consumers in Belgium. This comes after the regulation was approved by a Royal Decree on February 8, 2023.

In a webinar held on Wednesday, the regulation shared some details on the regulation, noting that the new rules relate to adverts intended to attract crypto investments and released either “as a regular professional activity or an occasional basis for compensation.”

According to FSMA, while the new regulation covers virtual assets that function as a means of exchange or payment, such as Bitcoin or Ether, assets with only a utility function or serve as securities are exempted.

The regulatory agency said it created the regulation because cryptocurrencies are “a particularly risky investment asset” popular among Belgians who are mostly younger investors. The regulator added that last year’s crypto winter and FTX bankruptcy “have hardly undermined faith in virtual currencies.”

FSMA Seeks to Regulate Contents of Crypto Ads

According to the details shared in a presentation at the webinar, FSMA must be notified 10 days before a crypto ad that is to be published by a trading platform Trading Platform In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real Read this Term or an influencer is posted on various media channels such as social media, billboards and websites.

The watchdog noted that it requires such messages to be clearly labelled as advertisements and carry important warnings such as on the volatile nature of digital assets, the lack of bank guarantee for them and legal mechanisms to prevent market manipulation or insider dealing.

As part of the regulatory process, the FSMA will require crypto advertisers to keep for at least a year their ad materials, agreements and the list of platforms where they were disseminated.

FSMA on Crypto

FSMA’s new regulation on digital asset advertisement is the regulator’s latest effort to supervise the emerging crypto industry. As early as 2020, the FSMA called for government regulation of cryptocurrencies, noting that the size of the digital asset market called for attention.

In April 2022, the regulator began to require all crypto firms operating in the country to register to continue their activities. Months later, the markets supervisor started consulting on how to classify digital assets.

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