Opinion: Google Ends Ban On Crypto Ads And It Has Helped To Stop Bad Guys From Reaching Online Consumers

By Danny Scott, CEO of CoinCorner

Following an update to their Financial Services policy in June 2018 which saw a blanket ban on all crypto-related advertising, Google had a change of heart and partially reversed the ban, announcing a year ago today (September 2018) that it was reopening its advertising doors to regulated crypto exchanges in the US and Japan the following month (October 2018).

Today the ban remains largely in place as crypto-related businesses outside of the US and Japan are still unable to use Google Ads. A year on, we at CoinCorner – and others in the Bitcoin industry – have had to (unwillingly) embrace the challenges following the ban. We’ve been in the crypto industry for longer than most and have seen our fair share of less “legitimate” players using Google to promote misleading products and services.

The good news is that the ban has helped to stop a lot of the bad guys from reaching online consumers. Without access to online advertising platforms like Google, Facebook and Twitter this past year, we’ve seen the “get rich quick” operations lose momentum and interest. This has made room for the “in it for the long haul” companies like ourselves who are trying to create and innovate in the industry. There have since been some incredible technological advancements made in Bitcoin, which have helped strengthen the infrastructure and further secured its future.

We hope to one day see Google review their policy as they grow more comfortable with cryptocurrency. In the meantime, although the reversal of the ban in the US and Japan may have seemed like a small step, it was a small step in the right direction, which gives the rest of the industry hope that attitudes towards cryptocurrencies will change in the near future.