Bitcoin Plummets As Google Bans Crypto Advertisements

Google’s director of sustainable ads, Scott Spencer, told media that the company is revising its financial services-related advertisement policies to ban any advertisements about cryptocurrency-related content that includes ICOs (initial coin offerings), wallets, and trading recommendations. Even the companies that were authorized for cryptocurrency offerings won’t be allowed to serve ads through any of Google’s ad products, which place advertisements on its own website and third-party websites. According to a company’s post, this update will go into effect in June 2018. Scott stated: “WE DO NOT HAVE A CRYSTAL BALL TO PREDICT WHERE THE FUTURE WILL GO WITH CRYPTOCURRENCIES, BUT WE HAVE WITNESSED ENOUGH CONSUMER DAMAGES OR POTENTIAL FOR CONSUMER HARM THAT IT’S A SPACE WHERE WE WOULD LIKE TO APPROACH WITH EXTREME VIGILANCE.” Google’s hard-line approach towards crypto world followed a similar ban that Facebook announced at the beginning of 2018. Although the cryptocurrency boom has created a lot of ecstasies, it’s still an unregulated space and has spawned numerous high-profile scams. This news just came after Google released its annual “trust & safety” ads report. Google gave the statement that in 2017 it took down more than 3.2 billion ads that violated its policies, which is almost twofold of the advertisements (1.7 billion), it removed the year before. Google parent company Alphabet makes approximately 84% of its overall profit from advertisements, so convincing advertisers that its ecosystem is safe & effective is significantly important.