Google on Tuesday announced that it would partner with Coinbase to allow customers to pay for cloud services with cryptocurrencies in early 2021. Coinbase said it would draw on Google’s cloud infrastructure.
The partnership is expected to lure major companies to Google in a fast-growing market where Google’s top competitors do not allow clients to pay with digital currencies. Here are the details
How Does It Work?
The Google Cloud Platform infrastructure service will accept cryptocurrency payments from customers in the Web3 systems. Over time, Google will allow many more customers to make payments with cryptocurrency. Coinbase supports 10 currencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
“We believe more partnerships with traditional players will follow. As the crypto economy longer term, Coinbase will look more like an integrated digital asset enabler than a pure-play crypto exchange,” said Owen Lau, an analyst at Oppenheimer.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed; however, like other Coinbase Commerce arrangements, Coinbase will get a percentage of transactions that go through it.
Google is also exploring how it can use Coinbase Prime, a service that stores cryptocurrencies of organizations and allows them to execute trades. Block (formerly Square), Coinbase, Tesla, and MicroStrategy are among the companies that have added digital currencies to their balance sheets.
Google in May indicated that it was exploring adding support for payments with digital currencies and has been in discussion with Google for months.
Blockchain and Google
Blockchain technologies such as NFTs have become a focus for Google’s cloud division. Google’s cloud chief, Thomas Kurian, had previously pushed for growth in major industries such as media and retail.
This year, it announced the formation of teams to drum up blockchain business. The teams would build tools that third-party developers can use to run blockchain applications.
We could not ask for a better partner to help execute our vision of building a trusted bridge into the Web3 ecosystem.
Brian Armstrong – Co-founder &CEO of Coinbase
The cloud business helps diversify Alphabet Inc. away from advertising. Currently, it accounts for 9% of revenue, up from 6% in 2019. Coinbase generates most of its revenue from retail transactions. The company will now move data-related applications to Google from market-leading Amazon Web Services Cloud, which Coinbase has relied on for years.
Vincent Munene is a freelance writer and a great blockchain enthusiast. Blockchain has changed his life in terms of financial freedom and in return, he likes to educate people and keep them up to date on everything blockchain. He is a Biochemist by profession and also loves to play the piano.
