Google to Ban Cryptocurrency and ICO Ads Starting June
Bitcoin, ethereum, cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) for new tokens will no longer be allowed on Google's advertising service starting June this year. The search giant's announcement of their upcoming crackdown on crypto-related ads comes shortly after Facebook also banned such ads on their platform.
Ads about bitcoin, ethereum, and cryptocurrencies — even those about crypto exchanges and wallets — will now be restricted from Google's advertising services, as part of the company's ban on "restricted financial products" as it recently posted on its support page.
Cryptocurrencies and related content also include, and could go past items like initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice, according to Google's new policy. Ads about them will no longer be allowed to be served up starting June 2018.
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Facebook has also instituted a ban on crypto ads last Feb. 1, citing a drive to remove "misleading or deceptive promotional practices" associated with them. Even legitimate cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets are now unable to run ads on Facebook since the ban, although some have attempted to circumvent it by deliberately adding misspelled words, according to Bloomberg via The Verge.
Google has noted these tactics, like spelling bitcoin as "bitc0in," and will be ready to anticipate them, according to a Google representative.
The announcement by Google may have been a few months early, but it already had a significant effect on the value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin fell 9 percent after the announcement broke out, hitting a new low for this month of $8,252.39 according to CNBC.
There may be other factors to the recent dive in the value of bitcoin, though. "Selling is driven by fear of another China ban, supposedly coming in next 24 hours," Brian Kelly, CEO of BKCM, noted what could be another blow to cryptocurrency values this week.
