Email Service ‘MailChimp’ Suspends Crypto Accounts Without Notice

MailChimp has suspended the accounts of several crypto-related firms including intelligence platform Messari, crypto wallet provider Edge, NFT artist Ocarina, and Jesse Friedland, founder of NFT collection Cryptoon Goonz. Content creators and media outlets in the space have also been affected.

According to an email received by at least one of the above list: “[MailChimp] cannot allow businesses involved in the sale, transaction, trading, exchange, storage, marketing, or production of cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies and any digital assets.”

Twitter in Overdrive in Response to MailChimp Action

Messari founder Ryan Selkis was among the first to take to Twitter to register his disappointment at the action taken by MailChimp:

https://twitter.com/twobitidiot/status/1557465266254233621

The Ethereum Foundation’s Sam Richards also revealed that its Ecosystem Support Program was also facing suspension:

Add @Ethereum Foundation's @EF_ESP to the list of customers @Mailchimp has rugged.

Anyone have good recommendations for email subscription services with solid API integrations? Or any that don't pull the plug on paying customers without any notification or justification? https://t.co/Cjg2kkqwoT

— samrichards.eth (@samonchain) August 12, 2022

Cory Klippsten of Swan Private, a Bitcoin investment advisory firm for corporations and high net worth individuals, joined the tweetstorm regarding MailChimp’s ban, calling on other marketing agencies in the industry to “step up” in light of this incident and others:

You know we plan, and work our a**es off. Swan security is TIGHT.

There's no in-house solution for decent email marketing. These are huge co's w complex functionality. Best u can do is limit what u share w them. Ours just first name, email, and IP loc (center of city, state).

— Cory Klippsten | Swan.com 🦢 #Bitcoin (@coryklippsten) August 12, 2022

MailChimp Responds

In a limited response to the complaints, MailChimp said accounts were being disabled or “temporarily suspended” due to service violations. According to its website, the clause falls under the “Acceptable Use” policy, which outlines prohibited content.

In that same section, MailChimp states that “cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, and any digital assets related to an Initial Coin Offering” are prohibited due to “higher-than-average abuse complaints”, adding that its site policy was updated in May of last year. Incidentally, it was in 2021 that the email marketing service provider was acquired by financial services giant Intuit.

Speaking on behalf of crypto-related content creators and media outlets, Analyse Asia founder Bernard Leong tweeted:

For all the #crypto newsletters, ghost is a better option and u can export & control your mailing lists and have total control. Abandon @Mailchimp a long while ago. https://t.co/UkbjcNpJAK

— BernardLeong.eth (@bernardleong) August 11, 2022

Pattern of Behaviour

This is not the first time MailChimp has gone after after crypto-related content. Such action can be traced back to 2018, the year Facebook also banned crypto-related advertising on its site due to breaches of regulatory guidelines.

Ironically, in April this year crypto hardware wallet company Trezor investigated “a potential data breach of an opt-in newsletter hosted on MailChimp”.