Pretty shortsighted and disappointing to see a lack of imagination - like a legislator/regulator who finds the whole subject too complicated and just wants to shut it all down.
Sure, there are scams, but that's not enough to justify a complete ban on everything "crypto-currency related". This means if I create some software that tracks assets - not even using a blockchain - just a regular old centralized database I can't advertise on Google because it's "related" to crypto. A LOT of things are related to crypto, which have nothing to do with scammy ICO's. Not allowed to advertise Bitcoin T-shirts? How about little foil-covered chocolate Bitcoins? Nope, sorry.
Idiotic. But that's what you do when you can't think with any kind of nuance, and the people who are in a position of making these decisions simply can't.
It's not a ban on anything crypto related. It's just a ban on paid ads. You can still post any crypto stuff you want on your personal page.
That's probably true - which is good. Still, I know a lot of people who run their entire business on Google AdWords. What silly to me is that in the same policy change they are banning things like "Binary Options and synonymous products." That's a very specific sector in a very wide sector - trading. I think that makes sense - because those "binary option" trading products are 99% (or maybe even 100%) scams. But what they are doing with the crypto space is the equivalent of "Financial Trading Products and related products, including but not limited to E-mini futures trading, Stock Trading, Options Trading, Books on Trading, and every other damned thing remotely related to trading ..."
I'm just surprised that it's coming from a company that prides itself on being smart and understanding new things. Not anymore, apparently.