Self-styled experts are condemning the recent move by Google Inc. to implement a ban on cryptocurrency-related advertising later this month, but in a surprising twist, one is suggesting that the motivation may be that Google plans to enter the market itself.

Google announced the ban, which covers any cryptocurrency-related content, including initial coin offerings, wallets and trading advice, back in March, saying that it was motivated by concerns about illegal activities.

“We don’t have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we’ve seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it’s an area that we want to approach with extreme caution,” Scott Spencer, Google’s director of sustainable ads, said at the time.

Facebook Inc. cited similar concerns when it banned cryptocurrency related advertising in January, and Twitter Inc. followed suit with a ban announced March 26.

The criticism ahead of the ban by Google comes via The Independent, which quotes multiple experts calling it “unethical” and “heavy-handed.”

“Unfortunately, the fact that this ban is a blanket ban will mean that legitimate cryptocurrency businesses which provide valuable services to users will be unfairly caught in the crossfire,” Ed Cooper, head of mobile at digital banking startup Revolut, told the paper.

Gareth Malna, a fintech solicitor at the U.K. law firm Burges Salmon, said that “the decision by Google to act as a quasi-regulator in this context is a potentially troubling development given its vast commercial power. For Google to step in and block that market may sound like consumer protection, but it is potentially overstepping its perceived role as gatekeeper to information.”

From a censorship and user perspective, both make arguably valid points, but then we enter tinfoil hat territory. Phillip Nunn, chief executive officer of Blackmore Group, suggested that the ban may hide an ulterior motive.

“I suspect the ban has been implemented to fit in with potential plans to introduce their own cryptocurrency to the market in the near future and therefore removing other crypto adverts allows them to do it on their own terms,” Nunn claimed.

Suggestions that Google may one day introduce its own cryptocurrency are not entirely new. Discussions on the topic have popped up every few years and GV, Google’s venture capital arm, is an investor in blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.

That said, the company has never once expressed interest in or even hinted at any interest in creating its own cryptocurrency. Perhaps Nunn has inside information not available to the public, or perhaps he has been reading too many works of fiction lately.

Photo: happyworker/Flickr