A few months ago, there was a time where a measurable percentage (like 25-50%) of the stories on the first news page were btc-related. The topics weren't that interesting (stuff like directly linking to peculiar transactions on the blockchain with no critique etc).
The feed returned to normal quite abruptly so I'd assume that there was some censorship around bitcoin-related topics (and I think I've read comments in the past that indicate this to be the case). If this was censorship by HN, then yes, I think it brings a lot to the table. It prevents small groups of fanatics from ruining the site for everyone by promoting their niche interest to excessive levels (which results in lower quality comments anyways).