Cryptocurrencies were dealt a blow today when Google announced a widespread ban on related ads. The ban goes into effect in June and covers all aspects of cryptocurrencies, including initial coin offerings (ICOs), exchanges, wallets, and even trading advice.
Google is following in the footsteps of Facebook, which implemented a similar ban at the beginning of the year. At the time, Bitcoin declined in value by 12 percent, according to CNBC.
This time around, the announcement knocked Bitcoin back from its position above $9,000 to $8,252.39 earlier today, it's lowest value in a month. It's recovered somewhat since then, though not by much—it's trading at $8,279.44 at the time of this writing.
Bitcoin is not the only digital currency that's taken a hit. Ethereum and Litecoin are both down a bit today, with the former falling 9.5 percent and the latter slipping 6.5 percent.
There is mixed reaction to the announcement. Brian Kelly, CEO of BKCM, told CNBC that the ban amounts to a "nothing burger" in the grand scheme of things, and that "China has been banning Bitcoin since 2013." Others are more peeved about the ban.
"Google is a tech pioneer, driving global innovation for both consumers and SMBs. This blanket rule on cryptocurrencies, which ignores the underlying blockchain technology, not only seems like a step backwards, but as though Google is stifling the very tech innovation that made them grow. Blockchain is often misplaced under the same criminal umbrella as Bitcoin. This is ironic, as one can facilitate fraud and the other fights it," said Marwan Forzley, CEO of Veem, the first global payment platform to use blockchain.
How this ultimately affects mining and the current shortage of GPUs, if at all, remains to be seen. We're not getting our hopes up, in part because we've learned not to read too much into drops in value. Bitcoin especially has been highly volatile. That might not seem relevant since Bitcoin mining has largely moved to ASIC hardware these days, but it's not uncommon to mine any of several alt-coins and trade them for Bitcoin.
GDC and GTC are both around the corner. Hopefully there will be new GPU announcements, or at the very least some news on what is being down to combat the shortage.
