The most used search engine in the world, Google, is very close to launching its very own blockchain division, which will operate as part of the company’s Labs group.
According to Google, Shivakumar Venkataraman is the person who will lead the newly formed blockchain division. Mr Venkataraman is currently employed at Google as Engineering Vice President.
Moreover, according to the official statement, the new blockchain division that Google is launching will focus specifically on ‘blockchain and other next-gen distributed computing and data storage.
Considering that the Labs group of Google is specifically for experimenting with technologies, such as AR and VR, developing a blockchain project is definitely a perfect fit for the Labs group innovative and creative approach.
Additionally, aside from developing AR and VR technology, the Labs group is also responsible for Google’s project in-house incubator, the Area 120, as well as the company’s current groundbreaking work, ‘Project Starline’.
For those not familiar, Area 120 is Google’s in-house incubator, where employees dedicate 100% of the time, to 20% of project ideas, i.e. brainstorming. Project Starline on the other hand is Google’s current research and development program into creating a brand new way to chat by using a 3-D model of the person you are chatting with.
Interestingly, in the past couple of years, Google maintained a somewhat anti-crypto and anti blockchain stance while distancing itself from any crypto co-operations or specific blockchain ventures.
In fact, Google even went to such an extent that it outright issued a ban on promoting any crypto or blockchain-related matters. This included crypto exchanges, coin offerings, e-wallets and even crypto trading advice.
However, considering that pretty much every tech firm in the world decided to go crypto, it looks like the world’s most frequently used search console has finally come to its senses.
And while Google today has completely different aspirations and beliefs concerning crypto, the company is yet to integrate crypto payments/transactions in its offer.
However, Google has been on a constant mission to forge as many blockchains and crypto partnerships as possible. For that matter, in only one year, Google managed to sign partnership deals with three crypto/blockchain operators Bitpay, Coinbase and Bakkt.
By partnering with cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Bitpay, Google enabled its users an opportunity to store crypto assets in their digital cards and digital wallets.
The partnership with Bakkt on the other hand will allow users to pay with cryptocurrencies by using their digital cards on the Google Pay platform.
And considering that the Google Pay platform is not as successful as the tech giant initially expected, integrating crypto payments via Bitpay is definitely something that Google hopes will attract more customers for their payment platform.
This is why the company hired Arnold Goldberg, a former executive from PayPal, to oversee the process of integrating bitcoin into the Google Pay platform.
Aside from developing and leading the payment platform, Goldberg also brought Bill Ready to serve as the President of Commerce at Google, while Goldberg assume the position of General Manager, on top of being Vice President, I.e. the payment division chief.
Consequently, Bill Ready, the Vice President of Commerce, states that Google is constantly monitoring how crypto is developing. And more importantly, the company is now willing to follow the crypto trend, and consequently, evolve together with blockchain technology.
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