Google Cloud wants to help more companies adopt and use the blockchain

Abner Li | Jan 27 2022 - 9:37 am PT

In this past week alone, there’s been a flurry of developments around Google and buzzy, emerging technologies. The latest sees Google Cloud ramp up a digital assets division focused on helping other companies adopt the blockchain.

Google’s enterprise offers various cloud offerings to businesses. Besides productivity apps with Workspace, data analysis tools, storage, and more, the latest service it wants to offer is blockchain adoption.

According to CNBC, Google Cloud has “formed a group to build business around blockchain applications.” This could include decentralized finance (DeFi) and other applications that do not require intermediaries (e.g. banks). Instead, smart contracts, which automatically carry out when conditions are met, on a blockchain are leveraged.

Google Cloud is actively hiring people with experience in the blockchain for its digital assets group. As such, this still sounds like an early effort, with Google currently considering what types of blockchain services it can offer developers directly:

There are “things we can do to reduce the frictions some customers have with respect to paying for centralized cloud utilizing cryptocurrencies,” [Richard] Widmann [head of strategy for digital assets at Google’s cloud unit] said. Foundations and other entities engaged in development in the world of digital assets are mainly capitalized with cryptocurrencies, he said.

Overall, Google’s Cloud division is positioning itself as being able to help more legacy companies interested in the space modernize.

This development comes as news emerged last week that Google Labs formed a new, separate group working on “blockchain and other next-gen distributed computing and data storage technologies.” Meanwhile, other forward-facing news include YouTube possibly getting NFT capabilities this year.