UK crypto promotions by Kenyan creator agencies

The launch decision depends on the exchange's legal identity, the assets promoted and the intended customer journey. Until those facts establish a lawful route, UK promotional publication must remain on hold. An overseas location does not remove a communication capable of having an effect in the UK from the financial-promotion restriction. (Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, s. 21(1)–(3), (13).)

Executive Summary

• Review each post, performed script, video, referral code and linked destination. A paid invitation to join and trade can be a financial promotion without recommending one named coin. Pure production work and neutral information require a different assessment. (FSMA 2000, s. 21; FCA Handbook, PERG 8.4.2G–8.4.4G, 8.6.3G–8.6.4G.)
• Identify the route for the actual communicator. An FCA-registered crypto business can support certain non-real-time posts made on its behalf only where it prepared their content. Independent creator copy needs another available route. (Financial Promotion Order 2005, art. 73ZA.)
• Remove retail investment bonuses and customer referral rewards. Review commercial creator fees separately, including any benefit passed to followers. (FCA Handbook, COBS 4.12A.7R–4.12A.9G.)
• Determine whether the agency or exchange provides virtual-asset services in or from Kenya. Where Kenya's sector advertising rules apply, they impose content, compensation-disclosure and record duties alongside the UK requirements. (Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2025, ss. 4, 8–9; Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations 2026, rr. 4, 123–133.)
• Contract for exact versions, controlled publication, monitoring and immediate suspension. Keep the exchange's, agency's, creators' and approver's responsibilities identifiable. A contractual allocation cannot supply missing statutory permission. (FSMA 2000, s. 21; FCA Handbook, COBS 4.10.2R.)

Identify every campaign communication

Section 21 applies to business communications inviting or inducing controlled investment activity. Qualifying cryptoassets include transferable, fungible cryptoassets meeting the Financial Promotion Order's definition and exclusions. Classify the actual assets first. Security tokens, derivatives and other products cannot automatically use the analysis applicable to ordinary qualifying cryptoassets. (FSMA 2000, s. 21(8)–(10); Financial Promotion Order 2005, Sch. 1, paras. 3–5, 26F.)

Create an asset register covering captions, thumbnails, spoken scripts, videos, stories, bio links, codes, landing pages, reposts and paid amplification. Add promotional comments and direct messages. Record the publisher, audience, destination and exact version. The FCA expects each promotion to comply on its own; a balanced landing page does not cure a misleading video. (FCA, FG24/1, paras. 1.3–1.6, 2.1–2.10.)

A recommendation to open an exchange account and trade, supported by a referral link, will ordinarily contain an inducement. Removing a customer bonus does not remove that promotional character. An unpublished script is a production document. A neutral explanation can fall outside section 21 where its content and context contain no relevant invitation or inducement. Calling a sales pitch educational does not settle that question. (FCA Handbook, PERG 8.4.2G–8.4.4G.)

The agency's role also needs a factual assessment. Section 21 includes causing a communication. The FCA distinguishes agencies merely designing material from those taking active steps to bring about communication. Recruitment, editorial control and instructions to publish can support the latter conclusion. Record who authorises distribution instead of assuming that every editor is a communicator or that only the account holder bears responsibility. (FSMA 2000, s. 21(13); FCA Handbook, PERG 8.6.1G–8.6.4G.)

Establish the UK route before approving creative

There are four principal routes, each with conditions:

1. An FSMA-authorised person communicates the promotion. Its status does not automatically cover independent creator posts.
2. An appropriately entitled authorised person approves the content for communication by an unauthorised person. Check the firm's approval permission, restrictions and crypto expertise. Statutory gateway exceptions must be established where relied on.
3. The actual exchange relies on its qualifying FCA anti-money-laundering registration. For a third-party post on its behalf, Article 73ZA requires a non-real-time communication whose content the registered person prepared.
4. A specific Financial Promotion Order exemption applies to the communication and recipients. An unrestricted follower audience cannot simply be designated sophisticated or professional.

(FSMA 2000, ss. 21(2)–(2A), 55NA; Financial Promotion Order 2005, arts. 48, 50, 50A, 51, 73ZA; Exemptions from Financial Promotion General Requirement Regulations 2023, reg. 3.)

For agency-edited creator material, obtain the appropriate authorised approval unless the registered exchange can substantiate the Article 73ZA preparation conditions. Preserve its instructions and final content history. A marketing director's sign-off alone does not establish statutory preparation. Registration of a different group company does not by itself supply a route for the actual exchange. (Financial Promotion Order 2005, art. 73ZA; FCA Handbook, COBS 4.10.2R, 4.10.9AR.)

Do not include personalised live sales conversations in that release. The third-party limb of Article 73ZA does not cover real-time communications, and firms cannot approve promotions made through interactive dialogue. A livestream can nevertheless be non-real-time where it functions as a broadcast under the legal test. Assess interaction, immediate responses and the accessible recording; prohibit promotional improvisation unless separately cleared through an available route. (Financial Promotion Order 2005, art. 7; FCA Handbook, COBS 4.10.4R; FCA, FG24/1, para. 3.14.)

Risk information and advertising disclosure

Apply the full qualifying-cryptoasset warning in COBS 4.12A.11R(1)(d), together with the prescribed digital risk-summary mechanism. Shortening is permitted only under the rule's third-party character-limit condition. A preferred visual layout is insufficient. Test the actual video, crop, caption and mobile display; warnings must not disappear behind truncation or competing graphics. Website and application warnings require the specified fixed placement. (FCA Handbook, COBS 4.12A.10R–4.12A.11R, 4.12A.36R–4.12A.38R; FCA, FG24/1, paras. 1.3–1.5.)

Identify the commercial relationship upfront with a clear advertising label and an accurate explanation of paid or referral remuneration. Hidden paid editorial content is a prohibited commercial practice. Where statutory approval is used, include the required approver identity and approval date, using the permitted linked format only where its conditions apply. Advertising recognition, investment risks and approver identification each serve a separate requirement. (Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, s. 225 and Sch. 20, para. 12; FCA Handbook, COBS 4.5.2R(1)–(1A), 4.5.2AR.)

Remove guaranteed-return, effortless-profit and false regulatory-endorsement claims. Substantiate statements about fees, withdrawals and custody. Anti-money-laundering registration does not establish the investment protections a consumer might infer from an unqualified claim of FCA approval. (FCA Handbook, COBS 4.2.1R, 4.5.2R(2)–(5); FCA, FG23/3, paras. 2.7–2.29.)

Referral payments and the response journey

The UK incentive restriction concerns benefits offered to retail clients. Remove investment bonuses, consumer refer-a-friend rewards, free-token offers and trading-volume rebates. A genuine payment for commercial advertising services is not automatically the same arrangement. Check whether the creator is receiving a retail referral reward or passing commission to followers. Attribution-only codes can remain subject to the promotion review. (FCA Handbook, COBS 4.12A.7R–4.12A.9G.)

Use fixed or staged production fees as the proposed contractual starting point. If engagement or referral fees remain, tie payment to verified compliant activity and prohibit consumer pass-through. Exclude remuneration based on customer losses. These are proposed conflict controls, not a claim that every performance fee is unlawful. The rule also preserves narrow distinctions for transfer-only incentives and universally available fees unconnected with trading volume. They do not authorise an ordinary acquisition bonus. (FCA Handbook, COBS 4.12A.7R(4), 4.12A.9G.)

Review the response mechanism with the offer. A direct-offer financial promotion combines the relevant offer or invitation with a specified way to respond. For a first-time recipient within the rules, the exchange must implement the personalised warning, categorisation and at least 24 hours between the request and communication of the direct offer. Appropriateness must be established before processing the application or order. Prior-recipient exceptions require evidence. Creators must not coach assessment answers. (FCA Handbook, Glossary, direct offer financial promotion; COBS 4.12A.15R–4.12A.21R, 4.12A.28R–4.12A.30R.)

Resolve the Kenyan services and conduct questions

Kenya's licensing prohibition turns on the business actually conducted. Editing advertisements and receiving the agency's own service fees do not, by themselves, establish a listed virtual-asset service. Facilitating exchanges for clients, arranging payments, controlling private keys or providing investment advice can change that result. Assess any referral process that helps arrange the customer's transaction as potential brokerage. The contract should exclude regulated activities unless separately assessed and permitted. (Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2025, ss. 2, 4, 8–9 and First Schedule.)

The exchange's Kenyan connection also requires evidence. Hiring a Kenyan advertising supplier alone does not establish that an offshore exchange offers virtual-asset services from Kenya. Identify where services are performed, whether Kenyan consumers are solicited and whether relevant income arises from Kenya. Apply regulation 4's territorial test to the actual service activity. (Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations 2026, r. 4.)

Where the sector rules apply, an agency editing content cannot use the exemption for placement services without responsibility for content. Persons acting for a licensee must comply, and the licensee remains responsible for their advertising. The statutory definition of a promoter concerns virtual-asset offering documents; it does not automatically describe every influencer. (Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2025, s. 2; Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations 2026, r. 123(2)–(3).)

The applicable advertising package must include the licensee or promoter's required identity, licence and office information, relevant third-party details, service terms and balanced risks. Where appropriate, persons acting for a licensee or promoter must disclose their full, accurate identity when introducing themselves to consumers, all benefits payable to them under the relevant contract before the consumer enters it, and whether they are paid to promote on webpages they control. Include the foreign-exchange warning where prices are denominated outside Kenyan shillings. Online advertisements must match the current paper version, prominently state where and how printed copies are available, allow consumers a reasonable opportunity to read or access them, permit printing and downloading, and show the download date by print, watermark or timestamp on the downloaded version. Do not hide essential information behind links or imply regulatory endorsement. Observe the applicable approval requirement for using a regulator's name. (Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations 2026, rr. 124(3), 125(2), (5)–(6), 128–132.)

Check any reliance on the incumbent transition separately. Providers operating when the Act commenced on 4 November 2025 have one year to comply. That period reaches 4 November 2026; publication of the Regulations does not restart it. A pending application is not an express extension. New entrants cannot assume the same allowance. The broader Kenyan digital-asset licensing analysis explains the activity-specific requirements. (Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2025, s. 47.)

Kenyan consumer law separately prohibits false or misleading representations within its scope. The agency should retain evidence for claims about benefits, approvals, prices and genuine endorsements. A UK promotion route cannot excuse misleading conduct carried on by the Kenyan business. (Competition Act 2010, ss. 5, 55.)

Document who pays each service fee, its calculation and settlement currency. Keep customer money and cryptoassets outside the agency's role. Receiving its own fee differs from conducting transfers or conversions for others. If a Kenyan licensee outsources operational virtual-asset functions, regulation 113 requires regulatory approval at least thirty days before implementation; an ordinary advertising contract should not automatically be classified as that outsourcing. (Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2025, First Schedule; Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations 2026, r. 113(1)–(3).)

Identifiable audience, creator and referral data need a separate processing map. Record who determines purposes, who acts on instructions and where data move. Apply Kenyan notice, lawful-processing and commercial-use requirements, including express consent unless written law supplies the alternative basis. Assess registration, direct-marketing opt-outs and cross-border safeguards before activating tracking or lead sharing. (Data Protection Act 2019, ss. 4, 18, 25, 29–30, 37, 48–49.)

A business wholly or mainly engaged in direct marketing must register under the prescribed Kenyan category. Establish whether the agency's personal-data activities meet that description; public advertising alone does not settle it. (Data Protection (Registration of Data Controllers and Data Processors) Regulations 2021, rr. 4, 13 and Third Schedule, item 10; Data Protection (General) Regulations 2021, r. 14(3).)

UK targeting or behavioural monitoring can also engage the UK GDPR. Where applicable, document processor terms and the lawful transfer route for access from Kenya. Obtain consent for advertising storage or access technologies; unsolicited marketing emails and social-media messages to individual subscribers require consent unless the relevant exception is established. Do not treat a creator's follower list as the exchange's existing-customer list. (UK GDPR, arts. 3, 28 and Chapter V; Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, rr. 6, 22–23 and Sch. A1.)

Allocate responsibility through contracts and records

The exchange should supply the entity and permission evidence, product facts, substantiation and customer journey. It should identify its authorised approver or take the preparation responsibility required by the registration route. The agency should control recruitment, approved channels, compensation terms and release versions. Each creator should publish only the listed material and preserve evidence of publication. These contractual duties support the legal obligations already identified.

Where an authorised approver is used, it must assess compliance and monitor the promotion while it remains communicated. For an approved promotion issued by an unauthorised person for communication by an unauthorised person, the approver must require written quarterly attestations. If it becomes aware that the promotion no longer complies, it must withdraw approval and notify known persons relying on that approval as soon as reasonably practicable. Contracts should give the approver access to the necessary information and require the exchange, agency and creators to implement withdrawal across their channels. (FCA Handbook, COBS 4.10.2R(1)–(2).)

The creator agreement should cover every permitted format and account, prohibit unapproved edits and promotional replies, disclose remuneration, and restrict subcontracting. Include immediate suspension and takedown rights, incident reporting, audit access and remedies for publishing outside scope. Preserve lawful evidence when removing a post. An indemnity allocates contractual losses; it cannot remove a person's statutory responsibility.

Keep the final creative, approval or preparation evidence, substantiation, compensation terms, audience settings, destination captures and publication and removal dates. UK firm records generally require three years for ordinary crypto promotions; specified categorisation and appropriateness records require five years. Where Kenyan regulation 133 applies, the licensee or statutory promoter must keep advertisement records and sign-off details for at least seven years after availability ends. Require agency and creator cooperation by contract, and distinguish the longer proposed archive from duties imposed directly on them. (FCA Handbook, COBS 4.11.1R(3), 4.11.5R–4.11.7R; Virtual Asset Service Providers Regulations 2026, r. 133.)

Make the launch decision against the final campaign

Use the following release sequence:

1. The exchange supplies its legal identity, product list and status evidence. Counsel records the UK route and Kenyan activity classification.
2. The agency inventories each communication, creator, audience and destination. Uncontrolled interactive promotions remain excluded.
3. The exchange and agency remove prohibited consumer rewards, unsupported claims and unapproved compensation arrangements. They agree the creator and data terms.
4. The registered preparer or authorised approver completes the applicable content process. The agency captures every final version and tests disclosures in its actual format.
5. The exchange demonstrates the required onboarding, consent and targeting controls. Release follows only when the documented route covers the actual communication.
6. The agency checks live posts against those versions, escalates changes and preserves records. Missing permission, withdrawal of approval or material non-compliance triggers suspension.

Stop posts with no evidenced route, creator-added investment inducements outside the approved or prepared version, prohibited customer rewards, missing warnings or false licensing claims. Reject formats that cannot carry the required information. A general instruction to comply does not cure those defects.

Continuing campaigns also need a UK transition review. The new cryptoasset regime has full commencement on 25 October 2027; Article 73ZA's later availability depends on the statutory saving. Current promotion compliance does not establish entitlement to conduct the future regulated service. (Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026, regs. 1, 42(4), 53.)

Review an influencer campaign before launch

Ask Licentium to review the campaign: the communication route, creator scripts and disclosures, referral terms and approval records. The review can identify required changes and any formal authorised-person approval needed before publication.