MailChimp suspends accounts of crypto-related content creators, media 

Popular email marketing platform, Mailchimp, has been suspending the accounts of crypto-related content creators and media outlets this week. The list of affected customers includes self-custody crypto wallet, Edge, crypto intelligence firm Messari, Decrypt, and so on, which had been using Mailchimp for its newsletter for more than four years. 

There were several reports on Crypto Twitter of suspended Mailchimp accounts in the past two weeks. For example, Edge’s problems with the marketing platform began on Monday when the company was preparing to send out its bi-weekly newsletter. However, it was unable to do so as reported by the community manager, Joelly Garcia, who explained that an attempt to log into the account, returned as a “deactivated” account. 

Jess Friedland, founder of NFT collection, “Cryptoon Goonz,” tweeted that he got banned on the 5th of August 2022. He then went on to tweet an image which showed MailChimp’s reason for banning his account which stated, “Please note, we cannot allow businesses involved in the sale, transaction, trading, exchange, storage, marketing or production of cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies and any digital assets.” 

What the crypto community is saying 

• Messari’s founder, Ryan Selkis, tweeted at Mailchimp stating, “Thank you for deplatforming some of crypto’s most reputable brands in the past 48 hours. You’re proving our point. Mailchimp—and all speech censors—must be destroyed.” 
• Messari’s marketing lead, Jared Ronis, added, “Not only was there zero warning, we can’t even access our subscriber lists. If @Mailchimp’s management of crypto clients is this haphazard, I shiver to think of what enforcement looks like for actual nefarious actors.” 
• Edge Wallet CEO, Paul Puey, believes the problem is with “good old-fashioned email,” and that it hasn’t been brought into Web3 yet. He further stated, “While Web3 is making a lot of attempts at finding other ways of communicating with people, if you’re trying to hit email.” 
• When asked if he believes Mailchimp’s decision to suspend the accounts in the past week was related to the sanctions against Tornado Cash, Edge Wallet CEO Puey said it crossed his mind because of the timing. Still, he doesn’t believe there is any correlation. 
• He stated, “It’s simple, basic communication over email, something that hundreds of companies utilize with no implication of illicit activity, no implication. Email is absolutely 100% in the clear, it’s fully transparent—it’s the most non-private communication you could choose to use.” 

Mailchimp has a history of suspending crypto publisher accounts years ago, including Blockworks and ShapeShift. In 2018, the company responded to a similar complaint on Twitter by saying, “Cryptocurrency-related information isn’t necessarily prohibited. It can be sent as long as the sender isn’t involved in the production, sale, exchange, storage, or marketing of cryptocurrencies.”