Crypto Month in Review: Google Reverses Ban, Blockchain Legally Defined in US

Another month is leaving the crypto industry with some of the best and significant developments. September 2018 was an essential month from many perspectives. This time, the industry didn’t just see adoption in technological space, but also in charity. Education and research remained at the forefront of crypto development, as an influential nonprofit favored blockchain for its eco-friendly perspectives. Governments passed new bills to define bitcoin, while a board game simply accepted it as a word.

NewsBTC curates a selection of these significant events which brought the crypto industry closer to the mainstream.

Google Reversed its Crypto Advertising Ban

The most significant relief this month came from Google. The social media giant reversed its decision to ban crypto advertising and decided that it will allow regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in the US and Japan to use its public ad spaces from October.

World Economic Forum and PwC Found Blockchain is Eco-friendly

Against a widely accepted notion that blockchain is bad for planet earth, research led by the World Economic Forum, in association with PwC, found more than 65 ways this technology can save the environment. The report noted that if people harness the blockchain in the right direction, then it can be a significant shift to “to cleaner, and more resource-preserving, decentralized solutions, unlocking natural capital and empowering communities.”

California Bill Gave a Legal Definition to Crypto Technologies

September also witnessed California State Legislatures’ effort to give legal definitions to blockchain technology, smart contract, electronic record, and electronic signature. Drafted by Assemblymember Ian Calderon and co-sponsored by Senate Democrat Bob Hertzberg, the bill said:

“Blockchain technology means distributed ledger technology that uses a distributed, decentralized, shared, and reciprocal ledger, that may be public or private, permissioned or permissionless, or driven by tokenized crypto economics or tokenless.”

Stanford Published First Blockchain Law Journal

Stanford introduced the very first journal on the blockchain law and policy. Titled the Stanford Journal of Blockchain Law & Policy (JBLP), the journal features peer-reviewed features, essays, and comments that will be published via pubpub.org, an open-source publishing platform associated with MIT Media Lab.

Scrabble Recognized Bitcoin as a Word

Scrabble, one of the world’s most popular word games, added the word Bitcoin to its new Merriam Webster dictionary, among other 300 words. According to NPR, this is the 6th edition of the Scrabble dictionary since 1976. It gets updated once or twice every decade.

Sports Groups Use Cryptos for Giveaway, Raising Charity

In two different yet inseparable events, two sports groups used cryptos for their respective purposes. LA Dodgers, an American professional baseball team, distributed free crypto-based giveaways to its 40,000 fans at a game against the Padres. The Ethereum-based crypto was a digital bobblehead version of Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, and Kenley Jansen.

The other sports crypto adoption came during a cross-country cycling ride for charity, called Tour De Force. The 4,000-mile trip sees cyclists coming together to raise awareness about how cryptos can be used for charity. The group aims to raise $1 million purely in crypto as an aid for the Houston Area Women’s Center, a nonprofit that works to end domestic and sexual violence.

Syrian Women Refugees will Receive Cash-for-Work via Blockchain

The United Nations announced that it would use the blockchain technology to improve its cash-for-work program for Syrian women. The program participants will be able to receive cash from World Food Programme-backed supermarkets without needing intermediaries like a bank. The UN Syrian women will also be able to spend the money directly.