Twitter has announced that it is joining tech cousins Google and Facebook in banning many cryptocurrency-related ads, including those for ICOs, token sales, wallets, and possibly even cryptocurrency exchanges. With thousands of new tokens in the largely-unregulated crypto space, many of which are likely scams, digital advertising platforms such as Twitter are wary.

Bitcoin doesn’t need ads

CEO Jack Dorsey is a huge fan of Bitcoin and even told The Times of London that he believes Bitcoin will become the world’s “single currency” within the next 10 years. Some Bitcoin users have observed that Bitcoin doesn’t have a marketing department and is therefore not dependent on ads. By getting rid of all ads, Twitter will be nuking wallet and ICO scams, thereby preventing people from getting hurt in the digital currency space.

Of course, the series of advertising bans from the world’s largest digital advertisers has made things more difficult for Dash’s marketing efforts. Dash, of course, does have a marketing team, and its head, Fernando Guiterrez, has had to change the team’s strategy due to the sudden bans on advertising. At least one campaign intended to launch on Facebook has been cancelled.

Better figure it out, quick

Tech companies should be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water. If cryptocurrency is going to become as big as many predict, with Fundstrat’s Tom Lee predicting $90,000 Bitcoin by 2020, cryptocurrency-related products could end up comprising a significant an area of significant advertising demand. While it’s probably prudent for these tech giants to exercise caution, even to the point of excess, they may want to spend some time honing their guidelines and finding ways to distinguish between scams and legitimate companies or projects.

If Twitter’s CEO is right, and Bitcoin does become the dominant currency in the world, then there will be many Bitcoin-related companies seeking to spend a hefty chunk of advertising dollars. If Dorsey is really the Bitcoin bull he claims to be, he should start thinking about what Twitter’s advertising guidelines will look like at that time. Ironically, Dorsey is also the CEO of Square, whose popular Square Cash app recently integrated Bitcoin. One wonders if Square Cash is still allowed to advertise on Twitter…