Google is a household name as far as the internet is concerned and is the largest internet technology firm in the world. The search engine giant is now reversing its ban on crypto-related ads that took effect in the Q1 of this year.

No More Google Restrictions to Crypto Promotions

In March 2018, Google followed the footsteps of the social media giants like Facebook, Twitter and others who placed a ban on all crypto-related promotions and adverts including Initial Coin Offering (ICOs), trading advice and wallets. This ban has left the cryptocurrency market suffering as wild price swings. This has also cause crypto to be less visible to prospective investors.

According to the recent update to its Financial Products and Services Policy, the platform will now accommodate cryptocurrency exchanges. However, this will be limited to ones regulated by the United States and Japan. Another condition by Google is that advertisers must be certified by Google. These certificates would be issued after applications in October when the policy becomes active.

However, it the ban will still be in force regarding other crypto-related products such as wallets and ICOs. This implies that despite the updated policy, the products would remain banned until the company says otherwise.

In June, Facebook announced a restructuring of its advertising policies. This enabled some cryptocurrency-related ads to operate within its social media platform. Almost concurrently, enthusiasts of cryptocurrency noticed that some Coinbase ads were running on Google through its AdWord platform. This occurred despite the fact that the company did not make any statement indicating that the ads were unbanned.

Google’s Previous Anti-Crypto Position

When Google was starting in the dot-com boom days, it began as an emerging technology just as blockchain is today. It can be categorically stated that the internet giant, Google might not be what it is today without proper exposure.

However, Google appears to be in an antagonizing position to this emerging sector. Even though the ban placed on crypto-related ads this year has been overturned, the platform has continued its ban on its browser application, Google Chrome extensions that mine cryptocurrencies and also banned mining applications from the Google Play Store.

This Google Play Store ban created a big fuss in the crypto ecosystem, especially amongst crypto app developers. As a result of the restriction, popular crypto wallet apps like CoPay, BitPay, and Bitcoin.com‘s Bitcoin Wallet were all removed from Google’s Play Store, though it was stated that those applications were mistaken to be under the policy update barring apps from mining Bitcoin, Monero and other tokens.