When hockey fans watch the Montreal Canadiens play at the Bell Centre this season, they see a new advertisement on the ice. Alongside stalwarts like Ford, Coca-Cola and CIBC, the logo of Singapore-based cryptocurrency-trading platform Crypto.com is visible in a corner of the rink, as well as on the boards.

The Canadiens entered into the sponsorship deal in March, a first for the team which sponsorship sales agency Effix described as “just the latest sign of crypto firms’ mainstream aspirations.”

It’s also a sign of developing tension as sports teams, media companies and online platforms grapple with whether to take advertising dollars from an industry with newfound clout, wealth and regulatory status—but a lingering stigma. Crypto.com has not registered with Canadian securities regulators, and the prominence of its sponsorship deal with the Habs has caught the attention of Canadian competitors who have.

Michael Arbus, CEO of the Toronto-based cryptocurrency marketplace Bitbuy, said he’s thrilled to see the increased public profile that’s coming with big-name crypto sponsorships and advertisements. However, companies negotiating advertising and sponsorship deals should hold crypto companies to the same standards as other financial-services firms, he said.

“[Advertising platforms] should be cautious and only deal with licensed parties,” Arbus said. “And licensed parties should be allowed to advertise in any place made available to a traditional financial institution.”

A broad range of regulators oversee advertising by financial-services firms. Like all advertisements, they’re covered by the Competition Act and the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, as well as rules specific to the industry from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and provincial consumer-protection legislation.

As part of their ongoing push to get cryptocurrency-trading platforms to register as securities dealers, IIROC and the Canadian Securities Administrators issued guidance in September to help clarify the standards that registered cryptocurrency-trading platforms are expected to follow when marketing. Like other financial-services firms, cryptocurrency-trading platforms must avoid encouraging “excessive and risky trading” and using “gambling-style promotions.”

The regulatory attention on the sector has almost certainly contributed to an advertising push that’s more subtle in Canada than it has been internationally. Crypto.com and Bahamian-based competitor FTX have been leading the way with splashy ads in the U.S. and other markets, taking advantage of 2021’s cryptocurrency bull market to launch multimillion-dollar campaigns featuring Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes.

In addition to its sponsorship deal with the Canadiens, Crypto.com also recently purchased the naming rights for the Staples Center, the Los Angeles venue that’s home to the NHL’s Kings and NBA’s Lakers and Clippers. FTX and Crypto.com are among the many large international cryptocurrency-trading platforms that have placed restrictions on Canadian users in recent months, as The Logic reported in November.

In an emailed statement, Crypto.com spokesperson Darren Weiss said the on-ice sponsorship at the Bell Centre was part of the global branding campaign that included naming rights for the soon-to-be-former Staples Center. He said Crypto.com “​continue(s) engaging in dialogue with regulators around the world, including Canada,” but did not specify whether the platform is seeking registration.

Sylvain Théberge, a spokesperson for the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, Quebec’s securities regulator, and Kate Ballotta, a spokesperson for the Ontario Securities Commission, said they were unable to comment on the status of registration or compliance discussions with individual platforms. Representatives of the Montreal Canadiens did not respond to requests for comment placed through Groupe CH, the team’s owner, and marketing firms that work with it.

While they may not be as splashy as arena-naming rights or a commercial featuring Matt Damon, Canadian internet users are about to see more cryptocurrency ads via Facebook and Google, another sign of the sector’s professionalization.

Effective Dec. 15, Google will allow ads targeting Canadians by cryptocurrency-trading platforms and wallets that are registered with both the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and securities regulators. On Dec. 1, Facebook parent company Meta added FINTRAC money-service business registrations to its list of licences it will accept in order to consider the eligibility of a cryptocurrency advertiser.

Netcoins, a cryptocurrency-trading platform owned by the Vancouver-based company BIGG Digital Assets, has taken advantage of its new registered status to run ads on the radio and television stations such as Bell Media-owned Bloomberg BNN. BIGG CEO Mark Binns said broadcasters are becoming more comfortable with crypto ads from licensed companies: “One of the advantages of being licensed is it opens up marketing channels,” he said. (Bell and Quebecor did not respond to requests for comment about their cryptocurrency advertising policies or Crypto.com’s Bell Centre advertisements, which air on their networks when they broadcast Canadiens games. Andrea Goldstein, a spokesperson for Rogers, which also airs Habs games, said the company has “no comment to share at this time.”)

Some major platforms remain reluctant to accept crypto ads, however. Billboard giant Pattison Outdoor Advertising recently rejected a holiday ad from Bitbuy, saying in an email viewed by The Logic that it wants to see documentation from regulators specifically stating the company is allowed to advertise. Pattison did not respond to a request for comment.

Justin Hartzman, co-founder and chief executive of the Canadian cryptocurrency-trading platform CoinSmart, said the new ability to market through both online and traditional media platforms opens up the sector to a massive new pool of potential customers. “It’s kind of like a land grab right now, a gold rush,” he said.

Hartzman agreed with his competitor Arbus that platforms should only be accepting advertisements from licensed firms. He expressed some frustration at Crypto.com’s Canadiens sponsorship: “That they have the ability to do that is crazy to me. Why can they advertise their non-regulated exchange anywhere?”

Jonathan Ip, a lawyer who advises blockchain and cryptocurrency companies, said anyone who accepts advertisements or sponsorships from unregulated firms faces a reputational risk, rather than a legal one. He compared the evolving advertising standards for crypto to the cannabis industry, which also had to grapple with lingering stigma and tenacious grey and black markets even after the sector legalized.

“People were kind of skittish around that,” he said. “Today, it’s fine.”