Google is reportedly launching a new blockchain-based division in its Labs group, which would deal with distributed computing and data storage technologies.
Bill Ready, Google’s president of commerce, confirmed on January 19 that the company is paying close attention to cryptocurrency. He had been wary of partnering with any form of cryptocurrency.
Google joins the blockchain revolution.
The biggest software company globally, Google, is reportedly launching a blockchain division within its Labs group. The division will be led by Shivakumar Venkataraman, an engineering vice president with Google.
Among its focuses will be “blockchain and other next-generation distributed computing and data storage technologies,” according to a Bloomberg email obtained by the publication.
Despite its involvement in certain blockchain projects, the company has been very careful not to be associated with any cryptocurrency in particular. Labs is an experimental division of Digital Reality and VR and other potential tech projects under the umbrella of the new blockchain division. The new blockchain division will explore these decentralized technologies under the Labs group.
As part of the new Google Labs group, an in-house incubator called Area 120 was established.
Area 120 by google:
Google’s website about Area 120 stated, “Google’s in-house incubator, Area 120, welcomes you”. At Area 120, we work 20% of the time on 20% of the projects. Many of Google’s best ideas began as experiments or passion projects.
Some analysts view this development as a response to other companies like Meta (formerly Facebook) expanding their business model to include these new developments.
Closer to Crypto:
Crypto-related advertising, including initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice, was banned from the company’s platform until now.
The company has since partnered with Coinbase and Bitpay, two cryptocurrency exchanges, where customers can store their cryptocurrency on digital cards. It does not yet accept cryptocurrency payments, however.
Moreover, the company also announced a partnership with Bakkt, a digital platform that allows users to spend cryptocurrencies with its card on Google Pay last year. During a recent press conference, Google’s president of commerce, Bill Ready, talked about the company’s vision for cryptocurrencies.
When Ready spoke, he said: There is a lot of attention paid to the crypto space. As the needs of users and merchants develop, we will follow suit. As part of its effort to include new services on its platform, including cryptocurrencies, it recently hired a former Paypal executive, Arnold Goldberg.
