Coming on the back of decisions by and , Twitter is expected to implement a ban on cryptocurrency-related ads in the coming weeks.
It was that these changes would come as part of a new policy which will be introduced over the coming two weeks. Twitter’s ban will see any ads related to , crypto wallets and exchanges, for the most part, blocked.
There may be the odd case where they are allowed, but this will be the exception, not the rule.
While there have been a lot of positive aspects related to the growth of over the past year or so, there have also been a number of key issues that has been the catalyst for these types of ads being blocked.
Why is Twitter Making this Move?
As the crypto industry has been relatively unregulated and had little to no oversight since it started receiving a lot of attention in 2017, there have been a number of nefarious individuals trying to take advantage of all this money flooding into the market.
There have been widespread on crypto wallets and exchanges which have led to users of these platforms losing a significant amount of funds, whether it was in the form of fiat or digital currency. This is largely as a result of these platforms having inadequate levels of security to protect their users.
Then there are those who set up ICOs or crypto-related companies that may seem legitimate on the surface, but cracks appear when you dig below the surface. The people running these fake token sales take as much investor money as possible before disappearing with all of these funds.
Twitter Bears the Brunt of Crypto Ads
In order to advertise these exchanges, , and ICOs, social media advertising was heavily used. Flashy ads were used to catch the eye of individuals, and they often had hyperbolic claims and promises, saying that investors could expect significant returns.
Twitter is a platform that is particularly popular for discussion in the crypto community, so this comes as a significant move. It is a great place for discussion, as well as a venue where scammers have tried to impersonate the legit accounts of ICOs to try fool investors, as well as celebrities promoting crypto tokens that are somewhat dubious.
The ad networks clearly have had enough and don’t want their users to be exposed to these scams any longer.
What Moves were Made by other Giants in this Space?
While the founder and CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey recently said they would be doubling down on tackling crypto-related scammers on their network, he is following the lead of other prominent networks.
In January, Facebook they would be banning ads related to misleading or deceptive financial products and services, such as ICOs and cryptocurrencies.
The beginning of March saw Google announce their upcoming restrictions on ads related to crypto, which is set to start in June.
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A cybersecurity expert believes that hackers may have converted half of the cryptocurrency stolen from Tokyo-based bourse operator into other virtual coins for laundering.
Following Dirty Money
The primary intent behind converting these coins into was to make it even more difficult to track the stolen coins. Hackers made these exchanges through the highly controversial dark web. The total loot was estimated to be around 58 billion yen ($547 million).
The began on February 7, 2018, via a website on the dark web, exclusively set up for the purpose of trading virtual coins.
According to reports, transactions are still being made on the website. This continuity implies that more of the stolen NEM will be laundered and in turn, become impossible to trace if successful.
NEM Foundation Tracking Stolen Coins
The stolen NEM is being by the NEM Foundation, a Singapore-based organization that has also been promoting the virtual currency.
The organization is marking accounts being used for illicit transfers.
BTCManager also spoke with Julius Patrick Fresco, a member of the NEM support team, via email regarding these transfers of the stolen funds and he responded in the following:
“The NEM team is still closely monitoring XEM movements from the Coincheck theft of January 25. Due to security concerns around these efforts, we will not be releasing further information on the detailed measures at this time. The decentralized NEM protocol is highly secure and is performing exactly as designed.”
To make things easy for them, they have warned virtual currency exchanges around the world to stop the procession of NEM payments from the marked accounts.
“There have been cases where such marks were erased. Some exchange operators, alerted by an increase in NEM trading, have tried to block suspicious transactions, but those possessing NEM linked to marked accounts simply take the currency elsewhere,” the company stated.
Japan Digital Design Inc. Chief Technology Officer , who is acquainted with cryptocurrency, , “It has become evident we cannot block currency laundering just because all transactions are recorded. Exchange operators need to make prior agreements on the handling of stolen virtual coins.”
The hackers stole the NEM currency from Coincheck in late January in the largest digital currency heist in history. The bandits even transcended the 2014 theft of 48 billion yen in bitcoin from the now-defunct .
Such instances make us question the safety of digital currency and force us to think, is our money safe? Cryptocurrency is the talk of the hour and incidents related to this alternate currency continues to make the rounds on the regular.
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