It seems like everything under the sun is announced on social media these days. Your neighbor’s son scored a goal. The clothing store down the street is having a sale. A government official has been fired.

But one thing you won’t see shared on social media anymore — at least not on Google, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Mailchimp — are announcements for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) for cryptocurrency projects. Earlier this year, most social media platforms banned ICO advertising.

But if you see a general advertisement about a cryptocurrency project, don’t rush to report the ad — the company likely isn’t breaking the rules. Cryptocurrency companies can still advertise their projects, just not their ICO.

Social media sites eliminated ICO advertising because the industry is basically unregulated, which means that some ICOs are a scam. Additionally, many ICO sales may run awry of securities regulations, meaning they must be in compliance with their local jurisdiction. With the additional scrutiny being placed on social media platforms, eliminating ICO advertising reduces these companies’ risk.

Getting rid of scammers is good for the cryptocurrency industry

It’s easy to assume that cryptocurrency companies are upset about the ban and are working to overturn it. But that isn’t true across the board — in fact, many actually feel the opposite. Legitimate cryptocurrency companies are going to great lengths to comply with the evolving regulations in their local markets. This means they aren’t trolling on social media for their funding. And eliminating or reducing the number of people scammed by the few dishonest ICOs actually helps the industry and legitimate companies behind them.

In a recent Wired article, Arran Stewart, the co-owner of Job.com, a recruiting platform that utilizes blockchain technology, said, “The only people who are going to be worried are the people who don’t have good intentions. If you allow these bad apples to remain, you lose consumer confidence from the masses.”

Yes, it’s possible to have a (very) successful ICO without social media advertising

Crowd Machine, a Datum ICO Email Marketing partner, recently collaborated with Polymath to help companies raise capital with regulatory-compliant tokens. The way it works is the tokens are backed by tangible currency, so they don’t fall under the cryptocurrency regulations.

Crowd Machine partnered with Datum and its ICO Email Marketing Services, to reach Datum network users via their email inbox. Datum users earned DAT tokens for receiving a Crowd Machine and Crowd Machine was able to get their message out to thousands of Datum users.

So what does this mean for the future of cryptocurrency? Is it the beginning of the end? Absolutely not. The legitimate companies will thrive, and the scammers will move on to another scheme. Cryptocurrency is here to stay. It’s just the beginning of a technology that will continue to change how people do business with each other.

If you’re interested in learning more about Datum’s ICO Email Marketing Services for your project, contact VC or Felix.

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