Bing Blocks Cryptocurrency and ICO Advertisements

Bing, the search engine owned by Microsoft, is following the lead of other major tech companies by banning ads for digital currencies.

As cryptocurrencies began soaring in popularity last year, ads for new projects started appearing across the internet.

While many became familiar with the ridiculous "Crypto expert" ads that promised the secrets to investment success, advertising for new blockchain-based platforms can be much more difficult to parse.

New digital currencies and blockchain platforms typically launch through an Initial Coin Offering where the company sells issuances of their new digital currency to interested investors.

Last year, ICOs raised $5.6 billion for new startups, which was a record at the time.

While this has been a boom for new blockchain startups, it has also been fodder for scammers to prey upon the enthusiasm and FOMO that often accompanies ICO investors.

Google currently dominates the search engine market with as much as 91% of all online searches flowing through their platform.

In contrast, Bing accounts for just over 3% of the world's search engine traffic.

Microsoft is involved in several blockchain development collectives including the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and they are a sponsor of this week's Consensus conference happening in New York City.Cover Photo by John Matychuk on Unsplash.

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