Google Play Store Removes Crypto And Blockchain News Apps

The Google Play Store which is the go-to- place for apps in the Android smartphone ecosystem recently removed crypto and blockchain apps. It seems like there is some issue for Google when it comes to cryptocurrencies and blockchain news after they took down several very popular apps.

As of 2:00 PM EST, apps of many crypto news sites including Cointelegraph and CoinDesk were unavailable on the Google Play Store. Reports also show that Google did not contact the news sites personally to let them know why their apps are removed. There is still no official response from the company controlling the Android ecosystem.

What we know from previously, however, is that this is not the first time for the Google Play Store to take down crypto news apps. Near the end of December, the store also took down an app for MetaMask, citing their policy. At the time, the co-lead developer at MetaMask Dan Findlay told the media:

“I very much hope that this was an honest mistake on the part of Google’s reviewers, but in combination with all the crypto YouTube bans, it definitely puts me at disease about how Google is engaging with decentralizing technologies.”

Findlay was referring to the then-ongoing ban on crypto content that YouTube first introduced. Even though this lasted only for a couple of days, it shook the market and made waves in the community. Similarly, the Google Play store had also previously banned several cryptocurrency mining apps.

What surprises many users now is why the social media giant gave no prior warning about the removals. In what many see as a shock move, the leading search engine giant decided to completely delist these apps which are no longer visible on the Google Play Store.

For now, the only big names from the list of cryptocurrency news apps are Coindesk and Cointelegraph, both of which are apps used by thousands of users. Meanwhile, the market has not responded to this yet and is relatively stable at press time, with a total of $251 billion now in circulation. Bitcoin (BTC) leads the race as the most dominant coin, trading at $8,779 now with a 1.45% increase on the day, followed by Ethereum (ETH) which is up by 2.64%, XRP and BCH which are also in the green.