Social media major Twitter is banning cryptocurrency advertisements on its platforms as a part of its new advertising policy which will be implemented in two weeks, reports Sky News.

Share Market Live

NSE

The report points that the platform has currently prohibited advertisements for initial coin offerings (ICOs), token sales and cryptocurrency wallets globally. Twitter may also ban all ads for cryptocurrency exchanges, with some limited exceptions, when the policy is launched.

Last week, Google announced its plans to ban cryptocurrency-related advertising on its platforms, including initial coin offerings (ICOs), wallets and trading advice.

In January, Facebook announced that it would prohibit ads of financial products and services which are "frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional activities", indicating the ban on virtual currency ads.

Bitcoin, one of the largest cryptocurrencies, has witnessed a sharp fall in the markets post these announcements and with nations directing stricter norms on regulating the currency. Bitcoin was trading at nearly $8,200 per unit on Thursday after touching its near four-month lows of $7,676. The currency rose to its peak on December 11, 2017, when it traded at $17,549 a unit.

In addition to the crypto ads, Facebook and Google banned ads for binary options trading after the release of figures from Action Fraud showed that victims' losses in Britain have risen by 400,000% in six years.

Earlier this month, Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, warned Sky News that cryptocurrencies faced a regulatory crackdown, stating that the time had come to "regulate elements of the crypto-asset ecosystem to combat illicit activities".

Mark Carney told the news media group that the issue will be taken up in the upcoming G20 meeting.

"There are a number of problems with cryptocurrencies. They are small now but they are getting bigger. We will talk about them at the G20 meeting and we are talking about them now in the Bank of England. The Financial Policy Committee is looking at the risks to financial stability, " he told Sky News.

The BoE governor highlights that cryptocurrencies raise issues for authorities who deal with money laundering, terrorist financing and price fixing. Incidents of theft - not just big crimes - but also steady thefts from people's wallets have been reported earlier.

First Published:Mar 19, 2018 7:45 AM IST