Twitter Brings Clamps Down on Cryptocurrency, Bans Ads
When social media decides to wash their hands off cryptocurrency. There is a big splash of crippling price tags for all virtual coins.
Next stop Twitter Inc.
Twitter has made an announcement to clampdown on cryptocurrency advertising within its network starting Tuesday 26 March 2018. The social network will make a clean sweep through its threshold for the next 30 days, as it launches this new policy on cryptocurrency wallet services, ads and cryptocurrency exchanges. However, there are exceptions for public companies listed on certain elite stock markets.
A Twitter spokesperson officially confirmed the rumors that had been swirling in the air about the impending ban
“We have added a new policy for Twitter Ads relating to a cryptocurrency. Under this new policy, the advertisement of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and token sales will be prohibited globally.”
Twitter is the latest on the list of regulations and redresses that had trailed cryptocurrency since the beginning of the year. It will join Facebook and Google in curbing the proliferation of fraudulent crypto offering by outrightly banning them all.
This recent turn of event is the latest to defy the expectations of the crypto community who most certainly didn’t see these bans coming. Already Facebook has implemented a ban on it’s platform restricting all crypto-related adverts, including the prohibition of advertising any initial coin offerings (ICOs), or token generation event (TGE) for the benefits of raise funds for new virtual financial instruments. Facebook ban was put into action in the first week of February.
Twitter is currently treading in the same footsteps as Facebook. Earlier this month, the mega platform which is a hot spot for cryptocurrency related activities announced an ongoing measurement against crypto-related accounts who leverage the platform for “engaging with others in a deceptive manner”. It was the first whistle to a bigger step.
Twitter will treat Japan-based crypto related activities under the country national financial regulator. The growing market for cryptocurrency has brought in its fair share of gain and lost. For the social media it was the latter, Twitter was quick to point that out.
“Although certainly ICO advertising must have been a significant source of revenue for Twitter, the repercussions of fraudulent activities just weren’t worth the risk.”
The announcement sent Bitcoin price tumbling down to $7,920 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange at 17:40 GMT. Bitcoin has been on a volatile swing as investors continue to dump their assets in a bid to cut back on losses from the ripple effects of these bans and regulations