UPDATED 20:49 EST / MARCH 26 2018

EMERGING TECH

Twitter bans most advertising related to cryptocurrencies

Twitter Inc. has joined Facebook Inc. and Google LLC in banning advertising relating to cryptocurrencies, though with some exceptions.

Today’s move by Twitter, first reported March 18, will see initial coin offerings and token sales completely banned while cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet advertising will be restricted to public companies listed on certain major stock markets. In Japan, a cryptocurrency exchange is required to be registered with the national financial regulator to advertise.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of the Twitter community,” Twitter said in a statement reported by VentureBeat. “As such, we have added a new policy for Twitter Ads relating to cryptocurrency. “Under this new policy, the advertisement of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and token sales will be prohibited globally. We will continue to iterate and improve upon this policy as the industry evolves.”

Facebook was the first social network of note to ban cryptocurrency-related advertising, including anything to do with bitcoin and initial coin offerings, in January. Google followed March 14, banning not only any advertising related to cryptocurrencies but also third-party advertising for a range of financial products as well.

The official announcement of the cryptocurrency crackdown by Twitter comes less than a week after Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said in an interview that he believed that bitcoin will be the sole global currency within 10 years. “The world ultimately will have a single currency, the internet will have a single currency. I personally believe that it will be bitcoin,” Dorsey said.

A full list of Twitter’s new policies relating to cryptocurrencies and financial services is available here. The ban starts Tuesday and will be enforced for all existing advertisers over a one-month period.

Image: Pixabay

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