Facebook Inc. is banning ads on its social network that promote cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings and binary options, saying they're "frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices."
The announcement came after about ¥58 billion ($532 million) in cryptocurrency was stolen from Tokyo-based virtual currency exchange Coincheck Inc. in a hacking incident last week. The value of the stolen assets have fluctuated since then, as ¥46.3 billion was reimbursed to all 260,000 customers who lost money in the theft.
The policy will be "intentionally broad" while Facebook works to understand which ads are deceptive or misleading, from companies "not currently operating in good faith," the company said Tuesday in a blog post. Facebook, along with its other properties including Instagram, won't allow ads that say "Use your retirement funds to buy Bitcoin!" for example, or those that promote binary options trading, a risky derivative with an all-or-nothing payoff.