After plummeting to $7,000 yesterday, Bitcoin prices rose Monday amid rumors of a ban on cryptocurrency advertising by Twitter. As of this writing, the price of one bitcoin token (BTC), was $8,417, an increase of 2.7% over 24 hours. According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin’s price dropped to $7,336 Sunday before making a tentative comeback.It is not surprising that the BTC rally caused a similar rise among all 10 top 10 most valuable cryptocurrency by market capital.
The Numbers
Ripple rose more than 4% while Tron and Ethereum Class gained 10% over the past 24 hours. Eos gained 20%, while Qtum soared more than 37%. After the collapse of the entire digital currency market last week, search engine giant Google announced that it would ban crypto ads beginning in June.
Scott Spencer, Google’s director for sustainable ads, stated that the corporate giant intervened to protect users against potential fraud. (See also: Coinbase sued for insider trading of Bitcoin Cash. He explained that although we don’t know the future, we have seen enough consumer harm and potential harm to make it a topic we want to be cautious about. (See also: Bitcoin Price swings resemble a dotcom crash: Morgan Stanley.
Crypto Ban
Rumours of a Twitter Crypto Ban Roils Market. The Google ban follows a similar move made by Facebook, the social media giant. In January 2018, Facebook banned cryptocurrency ads. Rob Leathern, Facebook’s product manager, explained the move in an article.
Rumours are circulating that Twitter might impose a similar ban. Sky News reports that Twitter is considering banning cryptocurrency advertisements and ads for cryptocurrency exchanges. According to the news site, the new advertising policy will be implemented in two weeks. It currently prohibits advertisements for initial coin offerings (ICOs), token sale and cryptocurrency wallets worldwide.
Twitter has not confirmed these rumors. However, a ban would not be surprising considering Twitter already suspended accounts of scammers pretending to be celebrities in order to steal cryptos.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO, admitted that he was the victim of this impersonation and reported it directly to Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder. (See more: Elon Musk reveals how much bitcoin he owns.
According to observers, the bans by Google, Facebook and possibly Twitter could have a chilling impact on the market. CNBC’s Joe DiPasquale, CEO at BitBull Capital, stated that a lot of crypto demand comes from retail. “This may negatively impact demand.”
DiPasquale said that bitcoin mining is expensive, which has put pressure on its prices. Miners are effectively breaking even as it now costs $8,000 to mine one BTC token. This is roughly the market price. (See more: Bitcoin miners are no longer making a profit.
DiPasquale stated that miners are less likely to keep their machines running if they are located in an area with lower energy costs or can produce at a lower cost.
Jack Dorsey
Jack Dorsey, Twitter Billionaire, Backs Blockchain
However, not all is lost. Billionsaire Jack Dorsey appears to be bullish on bitcoin as evidenced by his financial support for blockchain startup Lightning Labs.Lightning Labs, a startup based in Silicon Valley, has received seed funding of $2.5 million from tech leaders, including:
- Charlie Lee, creator of Litecoin – Square Inc. co-founder Jack Dorsey
- Former PayPal COO David Sacks
- BitGo CTO Ben Davenport
- Eventbrite co-founder Kevin Hartz
- Venture capital firm Digital Currency Group
- Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev.
Although $2.5 million may not seem like a lot for a group with so many deep pockets, it is still a vote by some of the most intelligent people in fintech that their belief in crypto and blockchain technology underpins it. (See more: Jack Dorsey, a billionaire, bets on Blockchain Startup.
Bitcoin Legal Status
There are many questions about the legality and credibility of cryptocurrency when it comes to transacting business. This question can be answered by looking at your country of residence and where you plan to transact business with the currencies. Some countries have explicitly allowed them to trade, while others have banned or restricted their use. Here, cryptocurrency refers to bitcoin and other altcoins.
The following 8 countries have placed an “absolute ban” on cryptocurrency trade. These countries prohibit the use of cryptocurrency, including bitcoins. The use of cryptocurrency has been banned in 15 other countries. These countries have an implicit ban on the use of bitcoins or other altcoins. These countries include China and Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran. Kuwait, Lesotho. Qatar, Saudi Arabia. Bahrain, the Dominican Republic. Lithuania, Macau. Oman. You can determine whether cryptocurrencies are allowed or not depending on where you live. Different governments have classified bitcoin differently.
China
The Central Bank of China forbids the handling of bitcoins in China by financial institutions. 2014 was the year that the ban was implemented. The use of cryptocurrencies in Russia is permitted, but it is illegal to purchase goods using any other currency than the Russian Ruble. There is an “implicit ban” on bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies in these countries. Researchers have identified cryptocurrency as a tool that could be used to evade economic sanctions. One example is the evasion sanctions against Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. This created a lot of discomfort and led to a meeting between Russian economic representatives and Iranian ones.
The meeting’s purpose was to discuss ways to bypass the global SWIFT system using decentralized blockchain technology. It should also be noted that Russia supported Venezuela in the creation of petro (El Petro). El Petro is a national cryptocurrency created by the Maduro government to gain valuable oil revenues and circumvent US sanctions. This is why some governments don’t welcome cryptocurrency usage. In August 2018, however, the Bank of Thailand announced its plans to create its own cryptocurrency called the Central Bank Digital currency.
Advertisiments
Advertisements about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are prohibited on Facebook, Twitter and Google, Linkedln and Bing, Snapchat and MailChimp. The following internet platforms in China are prohibited from advertising bitcoins: Weibo (baidu), Tencent (tencent). Similar cases have been reported in Japan Line and Yandex. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), United States of America decided that bitcoin would be treated as property for tax purposes. This ruling will make bitcoin subject to capital gains taxes.