By James Sweet III | United States

In an update from March of 2018, Google announced to the world that they would ban cryptocurrency advertisements on their platforms, effective June. With the 1st of June being in the past, Google has begun to enforce their ban on advertisements from “Cryptocurrencies and related content (including but not limited to initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice)”.

Google isn’t the only company to ban cryptocurrency ads, with Facebook doing so earlier in the year. Facebook had intentions to develop new technology for the company based off of the blockchain, leading many to wonder if Google is attempting to do the same and their advertisement ban is just a way to knock out the competition. A spokesperson for Google stated, “Like many new technologies, we have individuals in various teams exploring the potential use of blockchain, but it’s too early for us to speculate about any possible uses or plans”.

There is seem proper reasoning behind the advertisement ban by these tech-giants, as research shows that 80% of ICO’s are fraudulent. Business Insider has also reported that more “pump and dump” scams have appeared in the crypto-currency community.

While talking to The Independent, Phillip Nunn, CEO of Manchester-based investment firm Blackmore Group, said, “I understand that Facebook and Google are under a lot of pressure to regulate what their users are reading, but they are still advertising gambling websites and other unethical practices”.

I suspect the ban has been implemented to fit in with potential plans to introduce their own cryptocurrency to the market in the near future and therefore removing other crypto adverts allows them to do it on their own terms.

What do you think? Is Google trying to protect their users from fraudulent ICO’s that are stealing their money, or are they planning for something bigger in the future?