SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter announced crypto ad ban last January. Reddit has started this campaign way back in 2016. Google will implement the same protocol across their platforms in June.
Almost all websites that generate traffic forbid initial coin offering and cryptocurrencies. This may look like a big hurdle for cryptocurrency startup, but crypto entrepreneurs and researchers believe that this may work in favor of the cryptocurrency space.
Tokens that are usually offered at low prices have become the target of scammers. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, tokens like these are presumably securities and must be listed with the agency. By banning them, these advertising platforms are detaching themselves from a probable illegal investment. A legitimate startup must use word of mouth to get their message across.
The executive director of University College London’s Centre for Blockchain Technologies Paolo Tasca said that he doesn’t expect comments from these platforms regarding decentralized blockchain companies. Tasca also believes that in every industry there is a scam and the number is most probably the same in cryptocurrency space. He also mentioned that startups would usually provide as much information they can offer to the public and yet they still receive feedback from crypto investors. Based on his observation, ICOs nowadays are improving by including additional safety feature like tracker.
On the other hand, Arran Stewart, the co-owner of Job.com, said that the ban might sound negative but it actually helps to stop bad weed to grow. It worries those who don’t have good intentions, but few blockchain startups actually welcome this idea.
The chief executive officer of BlockCypher, Catheryne Nicholson, is at the same side as Stewart. She said that scams innovate the same time as the startup making it hard to detect during the early stage.
Phishing scam is not new to ConsenSys as they have been a target. Their chief marketing officer, Amanda Gutterman, sides with the platforms as she understands the reason for this blanket ban.
At the end of the day, crypto ad ban will not affect where the technology is heading, but it will be very helpful in minimizing scams.