Gamban announced days ago that it has expanded its blocking capabilities to include cryptocurrency and trading platforms.

The latest expansion included contracts for difference (CFDs), foreign exchange trading, cryptocurrency exchanges and binary options, described as lying at “the intersection between gambling and investing.”

Following research into whether various forms of trading could be labeled as gambling, conducted in June this year, Gamban concluded that an overwhelming proportion of the public considered cryptocurrency investments as a form of gambling.

This fed into Gamban’s decision to include additional trading platforms to its list of blocked sites.

“We recognise to some of our users, this approach will appear quite blunt,” Gamban said in a press release. However, the company added, “where inappropriately regulated products emerge, which exist at the intersection between gambling and investing, but are more akin to speculating, Gamban must block these if it is to remain the safety net our users rely on.”

Gamban further added that the difficulty arose from platforms offering different products, where some are more comparable to gambling than others, but without a clear distinction between them.

“We must therefore be led by the most harmful product a platform offers and block based on this criteria,” Gamban noted.

The latest addition to the blocked list includes the following sites:

Contracts for difference (CFDs)

Cryptocurrency exchanges

Binary options

Forex trading

Although the company recognises the popularity of such platforms, it said its objective is to prioritise the safety of its customers by protecting them from “significant capacity for harm due to exposure to risk from speculative trading and volatility.”