March 2018 was a bleak time for cryptocurrency. It was shortly after Bitcoin had the whole world’s attention and ran up to a record price of 20,000 dollars per 1 BTC and then crashed before entering into a multi-year bear market.
Immediately Following the crash, Google, Facebook and Twitter banned banned crypto ads. This sent a ripple throughout the digital advertising sphere. A bit later, in September 2018, Facebook and Google partially lifted the ban, allowing advertising of cryptocurrencies and related projects from pre-approved advertisers in the U.S and Japan.
Now, in 2021, Google announced that they would open up crypto advertising through their Google Ads platform on August 3rd. As of writing this, that date is today.
Google’s Interest In Crypto has gone back several years and made headlines when Buttercoin, a crypto exchange backed by Google closed it’s doors back in 2015 due to a lack of interest in crypto investing at that time. Looking at 2021 current crypto prices, most likely a regrettable mistake to these would-be investors.
Google’s 2021 Cryptocurrency Policy
The updated Google policy for advertising cryptocurrency will require “advertisers offering cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets targeting the United States” to meet certain requirements and certifications if they wish to advertise those products and services within Google platforms such as Google Search and other Alphabet platforms, including YouTube, Gmail or Blogger.
As of August 3rd, 2021, advertisers who wish advertise crypto-related products and services must:
Be duly registered with
(a) FinCEN as a Money Services Business and with at least one state as a money transmitter; or
(b) a federal or state chartered bank entity.
Furthermore, advertisers must comply with relevant legal requirements, including any local legal requirements, whether at a state or federal level and ensure their ads and landing pages comply with all Google Ads policies.
Cryptocurrency Awareness
With new digital publishing of cryptocurrencies and other crypto-related products and services it is safe to say that this can only bring more awareness to people who either have never heard of cryptocurrency (specific cryptocurrencies) or other crypto-backed finance vehicles provided by US authorized entities.
Crypto’s Future With Big Tech
The question is “Will big tech continue to embrace crypto and utilize blockchain technology?” and the answer is being heard as time goes on, year after year, with continued crypto backing and support from big tech.