The Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) will have new powers to regulate digital currency advertising, which will take effect on May 17th. To prepare for its new role, the agency commissioned a survey of investors.

The new rules will cover three aspects. First, it will require accurate and clear language with no statement of future value returns. Second, all advertisements will have mandatory warnings:

"Virtual currency, real risk. The only guarantee in the password is risk.

In addition, "broader warnings should summarize the risks in more detail."

Finally, events with a target audience of 25000 or more (large-scale events) must be submitted to FSMA at least 10 days in advance so that FSMA can intervene before the actual start of the event if necessary.

FSMA will also promote educational efforts through its Wikifin Financial Education Center. In preparation for its new role, FSMA commissioned a survey of 1000 Belgian investors in November 2022 who put their money into investments other than savings, time deposits and pension accounts.

More than 1/3 (34 per cent) of investors in the 16-29 age group surveyed bought digital currencies, compared with 11 per cent in the 50-59 age group. Men account for 80% of the buyers. Investors are concentrated in Flanders (63%), with only 22% living in Wallonia and 15% in Brussels.

Password investments tend to be smaller than traditional investments, with only 15 per cent of investors holding passwords worth more than 10,000 euros and 31 per cent holding passwords worth less than 500 euros. Password investors rely more on friends, family, apps and "robot advice" than traditional investors.

FSMA began supervising the cryptocurrency exchange in May 2022. Britain has also recently tightened its requirements for encrypted advertising.