A Google director told Bloomberg that the company considers allowing users to store cryptocurrencies on digital cards.
Tech giant Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has hired new staff to lead a broad financial services strategy that will include cryptocurrencies. This information got announced in a Bloomberg report published this Wednesday.
According to the report, Google has hired former PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg to lead its payments division. Goldberg, who used to run PayPal’s merchant business, will now become the vice president and general manager of the company’s payments and emerging markets efforts, an initiative Google calls Next Billion Users (NBU).
An Effort to Break into the Crypto Environment
Google’s president of commerce and payments, Bill Ready, told Bloomberg that Goldberg’s hiring is part of a broader effort to expand its financial services. In this context, the representative revealed that the company has become interested in digital currencies.
The report also highlighted that Google considers allowing users to store cryptocurrencies on digital cards. To this end, the company has been forming partnerships with companies in the crypto space.
Bloomberg noted that Google joined digital currency exchange Coinbase and crypto payment processor BitPay to store cryptocurrency on its digital cards. The tech giant’s executive said his team is looking at additional partnership opportunities in the industry, although the company is not yet accepting Bitcoin for transactions.
In October of last year, the cryptocurrency platform Bakkt teamed up with Google to make its Visa card available to Google Pay users. The move followed in the footsteps of Coinbase, which implemented support for its cards through Google Pay in mid-2021.
Google Would be changing its stance on Bitcoin
The post suggests that Google, which has historically shunned cryptocurrencies for its payment services, may change its view around the new asset class.
Google, whose Internet search engine is the most popular, dominates the market for web services; however, compared to other tech tycoons, the company has not yet dabbled as widely in the financial sector.
Google Pay remains far behind compared to payment services like Apple. Google did not launch its credit card, as Apple has done. This credit card offers benefits such as zero commissions on your mobile wallet transactions.
The exact release schedule for the new cryptocurrency-related functionality is unclear. If carried out effectively, these developments could drive the adoption of assets like Bitcoin among a high number of users. On the other hand, the foray into the space could also be beneficial for Google, driving the adoption of its wallet.
By: Jenson Nuñez
