New York's Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has issued new rules that make licensed crypto firms answer for the influencers they hire for advertising — and for impostors who misuse their brands. Licensed firms have until May 10, 2027, to comply. The practical effect is to place responsibility for third-party promotion with the licensee itself rather than the hired promoter.

What the new NYDFS guidance requires

According to guidance published by the regulator, licensed virtual currency entities, known as VCEs, must now operate under the framework laid out by Acting Superintendent Kaitlin Asrow. It imposes three core obligations. First, a firm must be able to substantiate any claim it makes in an advertisement. Second, every ad must clearly identify which licensed company is behind it. Third, firms must maintain genuine internal processes governing how marketing is built, reviewed, and approved.

Since the 2015 rulebook took effect, NYDFS has required licensees to include a "licensed by NYDFS" statement in their ads, signaling to customers that a regulator oversees the firm. The new guidance makes clear that a state license does not amount to an endorsement of the tokens, trades, or returns a firm offers, and companies are warned not to suggest otherwise in their marketing. For consumers, the takeaway is that the license confirms regulatory oversight of the company — not vetting of the products it sells.

Firms are also now required to vet the background of outside partners they work with and to watch for people misusing their brand. Policies must be reviewed every year, and NYDFS says it will examine them during compliance checks.

Why NYDFS is focused on misleading ads and impostors

The move follows a string of warnings from federal authorities. In June, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reported that Americans lost $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, with about $1 billion of those losses tied to scammers posing as businesses and banks. Social media alone accounted for more than $2.1 billion in losses — the channel where much influencer-driven promotion reaches consumers.

In August 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center warned about scammers who pretended to work for crypto exchanges. The scammers sent fake security alerts to trick people into giving up their log-in details, then emptied their accounts. The brand-protection provisions in the new guidance speak directly to that pattern, requiring firms to watch for impostors operating under their names.

Misleading crypto advertising has been banned in New York since 2015 under 23 NYCRR § 200.18, but regulators say firms often break such rules. The new guidance essentially explains what day-to-day compliance with that rule should look like. The advertising rule sits inside 23 NYCRR Part 200, the virtual currency framework NYDFS adopted in 2015 — best known for the "BitLicense" it created, among the first dedicated crypto licensing regimes in the United States.

Notably, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said in a January 2024 report that about 70% of the roughly 500 retail crypto communications it reviewed may have violated its fair-and-balanced rules. It cited false claims that crypto works like cash and incorrect statements about which investor protections apply. Those are the kinds of assertions the New York guidance targets, since VCEs must now be able to substantiate whatever an ad claims before it runs.

New York's move comes amid heightened scrutiny of crypto promotion elsewhere: Cryptopolitan previously reported that Europe was examining crypto promoters and finance influencers. For firms licensed in New York, the run-up to May 10, 2027 now functions as the test window: marketing agreements, partner-vetting files, and annual policy reviews are the paperwork NYDFS will be checking when examinations begin.