From June 2018 Google will ban all online adverts that promote cryptocurrencies and any related content. In the recent announcement, which follows similar action that Facebook took earlier in the year, Google’s other platforms such as YouTube and third-party websites will all be covered by the ban. For cryptocurrency businesses and investors, this is a concerning piece of news which could affect their value and future in a few ways.
What Does the Ban Cover?
The ban on cryptocurrency ads will cover companies offering everything from initial coin offerings (ICOs), wallets, trading advice and buying services. This means that even legitimate cryptocurrency trading companies and those who include it as part of their wider offering alongside options to trade forex, commodities and more, will be hit by the advertising ban.
In a similar way, Facebook banned advertising for all cryptocurrencies in an update to its list of prohibited content back in January 2018. This too applies to their other platforms such as Instagram, though they also said the broad ban would be revisited over time which could be the case with Google too.
Why Will There be a Ban?
Google explained that the ban will be in place as part of an update to its financial services policy, to tackle scammers using cryptocurrency ads to promote their fake online schemes. In 2017 alone Google claims it took down 3.2 billion ads that violated its policies, so there is clearly a big problem with this issue.
They claim that while they cannot predict where cryptocurrencies will go in the future, there has been enough harm and potential consumer harm from fake crypto ads that they are introducing this ban as a precaution. Crypto-jacking, where scammers add new code to websites and ads to use their computer’s power to mine cryptocurrencies, is just one of the offences these measures aim to crack down on.
The Immediate Impact
Following the immediate news of Google’s ban on cryptocurrency ads, the most famous of them all, Bitcoin, fell by nine per cent to below $8,000. This isn’t surprising, given Bitcoin fell by 12 per cent in January after Facebook announced its ban on ads.
For anyone using trading software to try and profit from cryptocurrency’s volatility, these falls in value may have made it a more attractive time to do so. However, the longer-term impact of these bans needs to be assessed as any future bans could also have a negative impact on them.
Long-term Effect
As Google and Facebook offer the largest amount of online digital advertising space, both of these bans will undoubtedly work against cryptocurrencies. However, if these policies are revised in the future and let legitimate crypto companies to begin advertising again then it could just be a short-term impact.
Others have claimed that the ban is a good thing for the industry by clamping down on fake digital currencies. Instead, they point towards the immediate fall in value being down to global regulation fears, such as the possibility of China banning cryptocurrencies for good and US regulation measures being introduced.
Google’s ban on crypto ads doesn’t come into force until June 2018, so from then onwards we will know the true effect it will have on the market.
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March 22nd, 2018 by financetwitter
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