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FEATURE Crypto Weekly
What's Happening with Google and Crypto Technology
The crypto ecosystem may be Google's next step, according to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, which owns Google.
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undar Pichai, Google's CEO, confirmed last week that the company is exploring crypto and blockchain opportunities. As Alphabet, Google's parent company, announced record advertising revenue to push its market cap to $2tn (£1.4tn), Pichai stated: "Blockchain is such an interesting and powerful technology."
As disintermediated (removing the intermediaries) peer-to-peer transactions become more mainstream, Google is making significant headway into the crypto ecosystem. A key part of Pichai's announcement was his desire to add value to web3 innovations by supporting blockchain solutions as best he could. In
the future, Google plans to make its cloud computing services available to blockchainbased businesses. Additionally, they are looking into incorporating NFTs on their web platforms, as well as considering cryptocurrency payments. Google does not have a first-mover advantage with its slow adoption of blockchain technology. Following other Silicon Valley companies, Google adopts web3 to catch up with crypto-pioneers. Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, acknowledged in 2018 that his company has not kept up with the blockchain revolution at a tech conference in Morocco. Over a decade after Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin White Paper, Google has yet to embrace this disruptive technology. However, Google Cloud announced on 27 January that it would be creating a blockchainbased division called the Digital Assets Team. It comes at a time of rapid web3 innovation and growing consumer, producer, and
April 2022 | Volume 21
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