Published: August 25th, 2020
The past few weeks have been monumental for most significant cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin just tore past the $12,000 mark to record the best price this year, and Ethereum dashed past $420. And, several notable online payment players have been seeking increased traction in the space. Among these are Alphabet’s subsidiary, Google’s parent company, which recently partnered with some prominent blockchain companies to offer cryptocurrency payments via Google Pay.
Google has joined the tech companies’ bandwagon being the last of the big boy to demand a piece of the cryptocurrency transactions’ pie. The Alphabet subsidiary, arguably the largest innovation house, recently signed multiple deals with several blockchain companies to offer its payment method, Google Pay for crypto transactions.
The California-based tech giant has the most extensive portfolio of tech innovations. One of its very ultra-ambitious projects, Project Loon Waymo deployed by X, provides internet access to remote and rural areas and is now considered a moonshot entity.
Despite this elaborate capability, Google has been acting coy about jumping into the deep end of the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency transaction space. However, the rapidly increasing demand for crypto payment solutions among retail outlets coupled with the need for reliable fiat-ramps, and a trustworthy environment seems to tilt the though process.
Because of the shifting goalposts, the simplicity of the payment solutions that blockchain technology provides has become a focus. Now many companies are rushing to offer products and services that enhance accessibility.
Google is taking advantage of the opportunities provided in the said environment to meet the created demand. By leveraging Google Pay’s solutions, the company hopes to become a significant player in the field in a couple of years or less.
Paxful, a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange became the first cryptocurrency entity to process Google Pay transactions. In doing so, it allowed the platform users in many countries to buy Bitcoin from sellers and pay for these purchases using Google Pay.
Later in March 2020, Coinbase partnered with Google Pay to allow users that hold the platform’s crypto-powered Visa debit card to transact using the crypto in their accounts. To do so, they only need to include their Coinbase card to their Google Pay profiles.
Most recently, NewsCrypto, a crypto education platform that also doubles as a trading analytics portal, partnered with the Alphabet subsidiary to become the first site to have direct crypto purchases using Google Pay.
NewsCrypto platform users can now buy the NewsCrypto Coin (NWC) using Google Pay, Visa, and PayPal, among other payment methods. NewsCrypto offers its coins to its users who can apply the cryptocurrency to get advanced trading tools, or stack it and earn 30% annual percentage rate.
Google boasts of almost 70 million users. Market analysts see its entry into the cryptocurrency space as a conventional way to mass adoption. Essentially, Google’s entry means anyone with a smartphone will have the opportunity to buy and use cryptocurrencies securely.
While it is true that Google has been coy about joining the blockchain space, it entirely is only accurate from the payment solutions point of view. The company is very much involved in the blockchain ecosystem.
In May, Google Could, Alphabet’s cloud platform that offers a suite of cloud computing solutions, partnered with Theta Labs to offers users an opportunity to deploy and launch nodes belonging to the Theta blockchain network.
Theta Labs is a venture-backed blockchain company that provides decentralized video delivery and streaming, all powered by the blockchain. Google Cloud came to this deal as the premier validator of the Theta network that services Europe.
Talking about the Theta Labs and Google deal, Allen Day, a developer advocate for Google, said that it is baby steps for Google, but the deal is also the surest confirmation of Google’s entry into the blockchain environment.
Confirming that Google indeed has many customers, Allen said that the Theta deal might be the first validator roles for his company. However, he was quick to mention that the giant tech company has already played a massive role in getting the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and about five other cryptocurrencies’ data out to everyone using its public database program.
Allen added that the partnerships with blockchain companies to offer payment solutions is the next step in Google’s elaborate dalliance with the nascent industry.
Google, through its payment platform, will not be the only significant online payment solutions provider to seek bigger traction of the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. Visa Inc. and PayPal Holdings, Inc., have formed several working relationships with many cryptocurrency and blockchain companies recently.
In June, PayPal announced that it had begun work on its cryptocurrency trading solution that incorporates a direct purchase service. The project includes Paxos, an infrastructure for enabling asset movement between digital and physical assets for regulated financial institutions. It was elaborately highlighted in a letter that PayPal submitted to the European Commission in March.
PayPal said in the letter that it hopes to enable greater financial inclusion while eliminating the pressure points existing in the financial services today. Already, PayPal works with a handful of cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, CEX.io, and Coinmama. However, these latest reports indicate that PayPal is eying more than just cryptocurrency transactions.
Visa also declared its intent earlier this year by filling a patent for a cryptocurrency solution that might replace fiat. Visa’s patent, digital fiat currency, was filed last year but its information was made public only this year.
Visa has strategic investments in cryptocurrency companies Anchorage and Coinbase. Visa users, through Coinbase, can now get crypto-enable debit cards that do not require an intermediary.
And, both PayPal and Visa were members of Facebook’s Libra Project.
Google LLC has partnered with several blockchain companies to offer its Google Pay transaction solution for cryptocurrency payments. The deals stamp the giant tech company’s authority in the blockchain space. The partnerships bring Google to the league of other online payment service providers such as PayPal and Visa.