Keeping up with the cryptos

Following Google’s announcement last week that it was going to removing crypto-investment adverts and promotions from its search results from June as part of its crackdown on ‘deceptive content,’ Twitter has said this week that it plans to follow suit and block adverts for cryptocurrencies.

While Twitter hasn’t made a formal statement about a ban, it’s understood that the social network has decided to act pre-emptively ahead of expected regulatory intervention.

And Twitter isn’t the only online platform mirroring Google. Facebook and Reddit have also reached similar conclusions recently.

Google’s decision prompted the value of forty-eight of the top fifty cryptocurrencies slump. And even Bitcoin, which accounts for 44.9% of the cryptocurrency market, has seen its value slide from almost $20,000 before Christmas to just over $8,000 by mid-March.

The possibility of regulation of the sector is a key driver in this fluctuation, and the decisions of platforms and publishers to distance themselves from the currencies. Another key factor that is only now starting to be understood by consumers is that, at least in America, cryptocurrencies aren’t considered currency at all. Rather, they are considered property, which means that the buying and selling of them exposes consumers to capital gains tax.

One Reddit user recently posted that he’d just received a tax bill for $50,000 from the Inland Revenue Service following a cryptocurrency trade – a bill which he doesn’t have the money to pay.

With the cryptocurrency market changing on a weekly - and sometimes daily - basis, we’re curious to see if these recent events are simply bumps on the road to stability, or a sign that we need to stop thinking about cryptocurrency in traditional FS terms.