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Bankless Crypto Channel Banned From YouTube

One of the most popular Ethereum-focused newsletters and podcasts said its account was terminated without warning or justification.

By Kevin Reynolds, Stephen Alpher, Elaine Ramirez
AccessTimeIconMay 8, 2022 at 4:40 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:41 p.m. UTC
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Bankless, which claimed 150,000 subscribers to its Ethereum-focused newsletter and podcast, channel on YouTube, said it had been banned from the social media platform without warning or justification. YouTube restored service a few hours later.

  • The channel, which boasted more than 10,000 hours of content and featured people as notable as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, said in a tweet its account had been terminated.
  • Attempting to click through to the channel yields a notice saying "This page isn't available."
  • Bankless isn't alone. Other educational web 3 crypto accounts such as Gabriel Haines.eth and the Optimism Collective were shut down as well.
  • Officials from YouTube weren't immediately available to comment; commentators on Bankless's Twitter thread made comments like "Wow guys I finally get why we need [Web 3]" which would prevent an organization from shutting down a channel through decentralization.
  • The removal of the Bankless channel may not be permanent or a signal that YouTube found anything objectionable in the channel's content. The social media giant has shut down other channels in the past without explanation only to reinstate them at a later time, again without explanation.
  • On Monday, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki wrote in a tweet that the company had "clearly made a mistake" in banning the Bankless channel.
  • Wojcicki added: "Love the level of conversation happening around crypto on YouTube - very interested in web3 and the role we can play in the topic."

Read more: Lessons from CoinDesk's One-Day YouTube Shutdown

Update: Monday, May 9, 2022, 15:20 UTC: Added information that YouTube restored the Bankless channel.

Update: Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 9:02 UTC: Added comments from YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki on reason behind suspension.


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Kevin Reynolds
Kevin Reynolds

Kevin Reynolds is Editor in Chief at CoinDesk. He owns bitcoin, ether, polygon and solana.

Follow @KReyofCoinDesk on Twitter
Stephen Alpher
Stephen Alpher

Stephen Alpher is CoinDesk's managing editor for Markets. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Follow @SteveAlpher on Twitter
Elaine Ramirez
Elaine Ramirez

Elaine is CoinDesk's head of audience development.

Follow @elainegija on Twitter

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