A hot potato: Advertising is Facebook's bread and butter so it's not all that surprising to see the company relax its stance. It could also be a precursor to Facebook launching its own cryptocurrency (doing so while banning others could cause problems).
Facebook in late January launched a ban on ads that promote financial products and services frequently associated with deceptive or misleading promotional practices. This catch-all included cryptocurrencies, an industry that had been riding a tidal wave of success in recent months.
On Tuesday, the social network announced a rollback to the controversial policy.
Beginning June 26, Facebook will allow ads that promote cryptocurrency and related content from pre-approved advertisers. Ads that promote initial coin offerings (ICOs) and binary options, however, will remain prohibited.
Advertisers interested in running ads for cryptocurrency products and services must submit an application to help Facebook assess their eligibility. In it, the advertiser must verify domain(s) associated with the application and disclose any required licenses or regulatory certificates they hold and whether or not their company is traded in any public stock exchanges.
Facebook reserves the right to deny any application or withdraw eligibility at any time without notice. Similarly, it can review and reject ads at its sole discretion.
Google in March announced plans to ban all online ads promoting cryptocurrencies and ICOs starting this month. Twitter followed suit a couple of weeks later.
Additional details on the social network's revised stance can be found in the Facebook cryptocurrency ads addendum.