Google to ban cryptocurrency, initial coin offering ads from June

Google will ban online advertisements promoting cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings starting in June, part of a broader crackdown on the marketing of a new breed of high-risk financial products.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google announced the decision Wednesday night in an update to its policy, which says it will begin to block ads for "cryptocurrencies and related content." Facebook Inc. took a similar step in January, leaving the two largest web-ad sellers out of reach of the nascent digital-currency sector.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, pared an advance of about 2 percent after Google’s announcement, trading little changed at