Adclear ran each post through its AI-powered financial promotions compliance platform, scoring the content against FCA rules. The methodology covered posts published between June 2025 and July 2026, drawn from Instagram and TikTok and identified via the #crypto hashtag. The firm acknowledged in its release that some creators may be based outside the UK and therefore subject to different regulatory regimes, a caveat that limits the direct enforcement read-across.

The most prevalent failing was the absence of risk warnings. Fifty-six per cent of all posts made no reference to the financial risks of trading cryptoassets. On Instagram, that figure climbed to 69%, compared with 43% on TikTok. Eleven per cent of posts went further, explicitly suggesting guaranteed returns, a clear breach of the FCA’s requirement that financial promotions be fair, clear and not misleading.

Other common shortfalls included failure to disclose that content was paid advertising or a sponsored partnership (54% of posts), unbalanced treatment of risk and reward (40%), and omission of the standard past-performance disclaimer (30%). Only 7% were flagged for the broader “fair, clear and not misleading” catch-all provision, suggesting most non-compliance is concentrated in specific, remediable disclosure gaps rather than wholesale promotional deception.

Adclear’s own benchmarking placed cryptofluencers as more compliant than influencers promoting buy-now-pay-later platforms in a comparable study, but less compliant than the broader finfluencer population promoting general investment products. Joe Jordan , chief compliance officer and co-founder of Adclear, noted that many posts could achieve compliance with straightforward additions. “With the right checks and proper awareness of the rules, financial content across social media can become more trustworthy and transparent for everyone,” he said.

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