Google announced that it will ban advertisements for coin offerings, exchanges and other cryptocurrency services across its advertising platforms.
The policy change, which will become effective in June, sent cryptos lower as investors feared the new rules would slow growth of digital currency markets.
However, as with the ban of credit card purchases earlier this year, the Google announcement is not inherently a bad thing.
95% of cryptocurrencies are outright scams. Sadly, many investors in these scams will lose 100% of their money.
So it should come as no surprise that Google and others are trying to distance themselves as much as possible from these currencies.
In fact, what’s truly surprising is the fact that Google was complicit with hosting advertisements for scams so brazenly to begin with.
Gatekeepers like Facebook and Google are increasingly becoming important arbiters of information.
And while we frequently celebrate Google and Facebook for the innovation and opportunities they create, they also have a dangerous amount of power.
These massive organizations have the unilateral ability to turn on (and off) the faucet of prosperity for whole industries.
In this case, though, I believe they are doing the right thing.
Google made it too easy for con-men to set up scams and advertise their schemes to victims.
The cryptocurrency market benefited from new investors driving prices higher.
But the dust still hasn’t settled from the recent fallout. While people have been hurt by collapsing cryptocurrency prices, many of these scams still have not seen the bottom yet.
When that happens, many of these investors will jump into solid cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
And as the weaker investments shrivel and die, these stronger investments — and the market as a whole — will benefit.
At the same time, honest businesses will find innovative ways to market themselves without Google and Facebook, creating new opportunities we can’t yet imagine.
If you’ve been waiting to buy (or are looking to buy more), I’d buy a little now and wait a few weeks. Remember: Never invest more than you can afford to lose.
