Why MailChimp Banned Crypto + What Now?

In a sea of unpredictability, one of the topics making waves in the crypto-world last week was MailChimp’s decision to ban accounts sending email content promoting cryptocurrencies that they had a personal investment in. Clarifying their policy change via twitter, MailChimp responded to initial criticism with the following:

From a business perspective, this decision can be pinned down to the company attempting to avoid the clutches of spam filters and therefore protecting their deliverability, and businesses using their service. In statements to both Gizmodo and Inc., Mailchimp stated that “the exchange of cryptocurrencies is too frequently associated with scams, fraud, phishing, and potentially misleading business practices”.

But in addition to the voices of tech enthusiasts highlighting why this is good for crypto, some real concerns have emerged. Namely, that legitimate publications and newsletters are being flagged under the same category as ICO-spam and given 30 days before termination.

As MailChimp’s business model is dependent upon protecting the deliverability of their good senders by blocking bad ones, it is understandable that the company chose to err on the side of caution. Considering that the percentage of users engaging with a company’s emails factors into whether or not future emails are marked as Spam, deliverability is an important consideration for businesses and services such as MailChimp alike.

However, alternatives to a blanket Ban-and-Appeal processes do exist. Through over 5 years in email, we also know that MailChimp and other email service providers already have mechanisms in place to separate legitimate senders from spammers and scams before they even send an email. There’s spam and scams in a multitude of industries using MailChimp including traditional finance. But like crypto, none of these industries are inherently bad — so why does crypto get a blanket ban?

Rather than hurting those building blockchain and cryptocurrency projects, it seems MailChimp has further stoked the fire in the movement to build decentralised applications and a Web 3.0. It’s a perfect example that centralised services hold too much power and we need to commit ourselves to building an internet that works for everyone.

If you’re looking for another provider to host your blockchain or crypto newsletter. You might like Sendicate and Smartrmail. We’re committed to improving email and helped over 7,000 businesses send over 1 billion emails last year. We’re also working on ways to use the blockchain to improve and truly decentralise email with Sendy. Our core mission is to give users ownership over their own emails and redistribute email marketing value by placing an ascribed worth on subscribers’ attention.