Tech industry giant Google is creating a unit dedicated to researching blockchains and other technologies centered around crypto assets.
According to Bloomberg News, the tech giant will create a group that will focus on blockchains and other next-generation distributed computing and data storage technologies under the direction of newly appointed vice president of engineering Shivakumar Venkataraman.
Venkataraman has previously worked with Google’s advertising team and will become the founding leader of Labs, a division of the company that works on hardware and software for virtual reality that launched last Fall.
Another new crypto-inspired hire by Google is that of Arnold Goldberg, a former executive at payments firm PayPal. Goldberg will run Google Pay, the company’s payments division.
According to Bill Ready, Google’s president of commerce who recruited Goldberg, the move is part of a bigger plan that aims to broaden what financial services the tech giant offers to consumers, including cryptocurrencies.
Ready says,
“Crypto is something we pay a lot of attention to.
As user demand and merchant demand evolves, we’ll evolve with it.”
Previously, Google partnered up with US-based crypto exchange titan Coinbase and Bitcoin (BTC) payments provider BitPay to load crypto assets onto digital cards while having users pay for them in fiat currency.
Don't Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inboxFeatured Image: Shutterstock/ParamePrizma