As TikTok faces a potential ban in the U.S., the crypto sector wonders about its impact on the market. The ban, part of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, will take effect on January 19. Signed into law late last year, it prohibits Google and Apple app stores from hosting TikTok. Additionally, web-hosting services must stop providing support to the platform.
TikTok, the second most used social media in the U.S., has 41% of adults as users. In 2023, it generated $6.2 billion in ad revenue. The legislation cites national security threats due to TikTok’s ownership by a Chinese company. Therefore, ByteDance faces a choice: sell its U.S. operations or continue in the region without functioning as TikTok.
The decision has now gone to the Supreme Court as the court is expected to make the final verdict before the January 19th. Crypto-sympathizer on platforms, President-elect Donald Trump, has also contributed to the campaign to save TikTok, filing a writ to counter the restriction. Some of the senators like Ed Markey also have also criticized the legislation not just for its targeted impact but for what it means for the innovation in the digital world and freedom of speech.
TikTok’s Role In Shaping Crypto Engagement And Adoption
TikTok has become a significant haven for cryptocurrency content and action and played a linking role between decentralised currencies and young, technology-oriented audiences. Despite concerns from regulators, the app has hosted numerous crypto initiatives:
As per the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority FCA in October 2024, TikTok was under scrutiny concerning its Virtual gifting and Asking system during the TikTok Coins.
These coins could be exchanged to ‘diamonds’ and later exchanged to money which has characteristic of cryptocurrencies. The FCA also pointed out such threats as money laundering and no protection of the consumers.
Sonic, a Solana-based layer-2 blockchain, distributed its SONIC tokens in December 2024 only through TikTok. Sonic was about to attract over 2 million users by implementing its SonicX game into the app showing the scalability of the platform for increasing blockchain adoption.
The impact of TikTok on crypto saw its light in the #DogecoinTikTokChallenge that saw crypto influencers increase the demand for DOGE by 20% within one week.These examples demonstrate the corporation’s role in the formation of the so-called crypto culture and support of activity in the context of digital assets.
As seen earlier in this article, irrespective of the reels origin, analysts claim that a TikTok ban in the United States would not greatly affect the long-term outcome of the cryptocurrencies market.
ThinkMarkets’ Chief Market Strategist Alejandro Zambrano says that TikTok has been pinning down content in the first place to influence the industry in a small way. In July 2021, TikTok also made an update to its content policy applying a permanent ban to anything related to finance such as cryptocurrencies, because of the unpleasant instances of providing incorrect advice as well as high-risk scams.
According to Zambrano, TikTok has been censoring crypto content for years. “Complete prohibition would not prompt radical changes in the crypto industry since the platform has stepped back from advertising cryptos as a priority investment opportunity.”
Where TikTok’s absence in the U.S. could blunt a major avenue of crypto promotion, the industry has already branched out to other platforms including Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram. Other applications that are entering the scene are Threads and Lens Protocol that can also be used in the crypto content creation.
The TikTok ban issue rises questions about how social media apps are connected to cryptocurrencies. While the regulatory authorities and hosting platforms are continuously tightening screws, new crypto projects have to navigate through different territories and discover new means of reaching out to their target audience.
As the court’s verdict approaches, the Bitcoin community will know whether TikTok’s event was the beginning of a new chapter in the Bitcoin movement or the conclusion of a glorious chapter in Bitcoin culture.