Google outlawed bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related advertising in March. There have been reports suggesting that Google did this with the intention of keeping people from being exposed to potentially dangerous risks involving ICOs and other points relating to advertisements. This came amid Facebook also announcing it would outlaw such advertisements from being visible. Even more importantly, this comes as the two groups might be interested in doing something more within the currency industry.
Cryptocurrency experts have been coming forward and are arguing that the current ban on cryptocurrency advertising is unethical and inappropriate. Blackmore Group CEO Phillip Nunn has been among the loudest voices expressing concern.
Nunn stated in an interview with The Independent that he feels Google and Facebook are trying to regulate what their readers want to see. He argues that even though cryptocurrency ads cannot be seen anywhere on Facebook or Google, people can still use those sites to view ads for gambling and adult-oriented services. This leads to what he feels is a double standard over how ads are produced.
He did understand in the interview that much of what Google and Facebook are doing entails trying to keep criminal actions relating to currencies from taking place. However, he also argues that the move by the two groups is overreaching and makes it harder for actual currencies to be highlighted and made available to other people. This includes currencies from genuine service providers.
A New Currency?
Phillip Nunn also stated that he feels one of those groups that have outlawed currency ads might be trying to produce one’s own currency in the future. By outlawing advertisements for currencies, Facebook or Google could have the market to themselves by allowing themselves to promote their own currency instead of what others are offering. This statement from Nunn is only speculation at the moment.
The two online services have still expressed some kind of interest in offering a currency. They have been interested in what the blockchain field has to offer in terms of how it produces currencies and what makes it valuable for transactions in many forms.
Google contacted the group behind the Ethereum currency not long ago to talk about trying to get services from that group. This has led some to believe that there might be an attempt to make a currency based off of the Ethereum blockchain. People with Google have stated online that they were simply looking into how the blockchain technology works. No one would say anything about whether they were interested in getting the blockchain system to work in some fashion.
Other Voices
Nunn is not the only major figure who has expressed issues over the advertising ban. Digital banking group Revolut head Ed Cooper said to The Independent that the bans on advertising make up a dramatic shift in how currencies are highlighted. More importantly, he feels that legitimate businesses in the field who have genuine services available would be harmed by the ban, thus making it harder for them to offer the currency services that they wish to share.
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