Popular newsletter platform Mailchimp has banned the accounts of several cryptocurrency-focused media outlets without warning.
Companies and NFT artists have also been caught up in the suspensions.
According to Mailchimp’s acceptable use policy, it does not offer its services to firms whose businesses are related to promoting “cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, and any digital assets related to an Initial Coin Offering”.
It officially adopted the policy in 2018 and claims to allow for reporting on crypto, as long as the content does not promote it.
Decrypt and Messari took to Twitter to complain about their treatment.
Not only was there zero warning, we can’t even access our subscriber lists (which luckily we have a backup of because I trust nobody). If @Mailchimp‘s management of crypto clients is this haphazard, I shiver to think of what enforcement looks like for actual nefarious actors https://t.co/t2ylOeJo3h
— jared.info (🥃,🦉) 📍atl (@JaredRonis) August 10, 2022
Today @Mailchimp, which we have used for 4+ years, deactivated our newsletter account with no warning or explanation. now I see from Twitter searches it has happened to lots of crypto content creators this week. has it happened to you? we’d like to hear about it.
— Daniel Roberts (@readDanwrite) August 9, 2022
Messari founder Ryan Selkis added in a further tweet: “Thank you for deplatforming some of crypto’s most reputable brands in the past 48 hours.
“You’re proving our point. Mailchimp – and all speech censors – must be destroyed.”
Other accounts to be suspended include custody crypto wallet Edge, NFT artist Ocarina and Jesse Friedland, founder of NFT collection Cryptoon Goonz.
Mailchimp, which was acquired by financial services giant Intuit last year, banned publishers Blockworks and ShapeShift in past years.
Another popular email marketing platform Constant Contact also lists cryptocurrency under its prohibited content policy.
BlackRock launches spot Bitcoin private trust
The world’s largest asset manager is giving its US-based institutional clients direct exposure to Bitcoin.
BlackRock, which has $10 trillion of assets under management, has launched a spot Bitcoin private trust.
“Despite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, we are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients in how to efficiently and cost-effectively access these assets using our technology and product capabilities,” a statement read, referencing its asset management technology tool Aladdin.
“Bitcoin is the oldest, largest, and most liquid cryptoasset, and is currently the primary subject of interest from our clients within the cryptoasset space. Excluding stablecoins, bitcoin maintains close to 50% of the industry’s market capitalisation.”
BlackRock is also exploring “permissioned blockchains, stablecoins, cryptoassets, and tokenisation”.
CEO Larry Fink has warmed to Bitcoin recently despite famously labelling it an “index of money laundering” five years ago.
He has attributed his change of heart to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where cryptocurrency donations have poured in to help the defending country.
BlackRock also pointed to “organisations such as RMI and Energy Web… developing programs to bring greater transparency to sustainable energy usage in bitcoin mining”.
It recently announced a partnership with Coinbase that will provide common clients of Aladdin and Coinbase access to the digital assets trading lifecycle through connectivity between Coinbase and the Aladdin platform, starting with Bitcoin.
Leveraging Coinbase’s trading, custody, prime brokerage and reporting capabilities, common clients will be able to manage their bitcoin exposures alongside their public and private investments.
Cryptocurrency shorts
MakerDAO founder Rune Chirstensen has urged members of the decentralised autonomous organization to “seriously consider” preparing for the depeg of its $7bn DAI stablecoin from the US dollar after witnessing Circle’s willingness to follow regulators in sanctioning Tornado Cash.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has revealed a policy of discouraging crypto adoption in developing countries, viewing them as a “threat” to financial stability, resource mobilisation and security of monetary systems. However, it also acknowledged crypto’s role in facilitating remittances and as a hedge against currency inflation.
93% of independent financial advisors in the UK would not recommend crypto investments to clients, according to Opinium research.
The founders of Pudgy Penguin non-fungible tokens are to make physical toys of selected NFTs among the 8,888 collection, which led to a floor price increase.
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the more than 20,500 coins is at $1.15 trillion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 1.5% decrease in the last 24 hours.
Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – dropped 3% to below $24,000. BTC is 3% up on a week ago.
Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – remained around $1,890. ETH is 13% up over the course of a week.
Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token lost 3% to $323, leaving it 3% up over seven days.
The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP shed 1% to 37.8 cents, with its price where it was seven days ago.
Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, fell 3% to 53c and is 3% up in a week.
Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token lost 4% to $43.10 and is 7% higher than its price a week ago.
Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, shed 3% to $9.17 and is 9% up on its price a week ago.
Meme coin DOGE was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE fell 2% to 7.1c and is 3% up over seven days.
Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token dropped 3% to $28.79 and is 20% up in a week.
Polygon aims to securely connect blockchains as a sort of decentralised internet. Its MATIC token fell 3% to 92c, while it is 1% down in a week.
To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in recent times – and for round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments – click here.
For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.