MiCA Explained: How new rules affect marketing for Crypto Companies

The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) has been reshaping how crypto businesses operate across the EU since its introduction in 2023.

While much of the attention for companies operating in this sector has been on licensing and compliance, it is often overlooked how MiCA impacts marketing, advertising, and third-party acquisition channels.

In particular, marketing to retail audiences through social media campaigns, influencers, affiliate partners, and brand ambassadors requires that messages, advice, claims, and disclosures meet a far higher regulatory standard under MiCA’s rules. 

For Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs), penalties for failing to meet standards can be significant, up to €5,000,000 or 5% of annual turnover. There can also be fines and criminal prosecutions for companies and individuals. Therefore, much is at stake for businesses in this sector and understanding the regulations is essential.

What is MiCA?

The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) is a European-wide set of market rules for crypto-assets. This regulatory framework, which was introduced in June 2023, has had further rules added during that time. 

Rules for CASPs, applied from December 30, 2024, introduced stricter rules associated with marketing their products.

Under MiCA, Crypto companies operating in Europe must take greater responsibility for the way they market their products, and also for how third parties promote them and their products.

Regulating Marketing under MiCA

Under MiCA, any marketing communications related to investing, purchasing, and selling crypto assets must meet strict standards.

Marketing must be: 

• Clear, honest, and fair, with no intention to mislead
   
• Consistent with official statements of disclosures
   
• Upfront about risks, with clear warnings
   
• Substantiate any claims

The regulations for marketing crypto-assets under MiCA are clear that the rules don’t just apply to your internal teams. Your third-party partners, such as affiliates and influencers, are expected to meet the same standards.

Exposure for companies marketing crypto assets

If your crypto business is working with affiliates, brokers, influencers, and paid media partners, then you are accountable for how your product is presented, even if you are not responsible for the creation of that content.

Most crypto trading takes place on smartphone devices

Misleading content, aggressive or exaggerated claims, and poorly disclosed promotions can lead to problems for the company they are promoting. 

Examples include:

• Social media posts
   
• Affiliate site content
   
• Subscriber mailing lists
   
• Video content, such as YouTube, Twitch, and Kick

Understanding where third parties are marketing your crypto products is essential under MiCA, which can be a real challenge for brands that work with several third parties.

Practical steps Crypto Companies can take

For Crypto companies that are operating within the MiCA regulatory framework the key to success is understanding and managing your marketing strategy, specifically those related to third-party partners.

Here are some practical steps to take: 

1. Use affiliate compliance monitoring tools: Understand how and where your third-party partners market your brand. This will help you quickly identify risk and allow you to take action when problems arise. Leading monitoring tools offer multilingual tracking by using specialist geo-specific technology; this is important when operating in different European markets.
    
2. Create clear guidelines for third parties to meet when marketing your brand. Ask them to sign agreements confirming they understand the standards you expect. By being upfront about your expectations with third-party partners, you will help them understand the importance of compliance when representing your brand.
    
3. Work closely with partners to ensure risk disclosures are consistent and always present in any marketing material. Ideally, disclosures should be short and to the point and available across various channels and devices.
    
4. Be firm with partners who regularly fall short of your expectations.
    
5. Regularly audit all your current marketing channels so you know exactly what is happening at any given time.

By putting in place a system for managing your whole marketing ecosystem, your business can significantly reduce risk from non-compliant marketing content. If you choose to ignore it then you could be putting your business at risk of penalties and reputational harm.