Google Cloud's Foray Into Web3: Stirring Up Controversy In Crypto Circles

Google Cloud recently unveiled a new Web3 portal tailored for blockchain developers, offering datasets and tutorials on creating non-fungible tokens (NFT). However, the crypto community’s response has been mixed.

Unchained’s vice president of product marketing, Phil Geiger, expressed disappointment in an X post on April 25, saying, “No native Bitcoin and Lightning support? It seems like an oversight to ignore the most important cryptocurrency.”

Pseudonymous crypto trader MartyParty, with 80,700 followers on X, voiced his discontent on April 26, stating, “Not impressed. Google is way behind.”

Conversely, some welcomed the launch. Ivaibi Festo, founder of Mitroplus Labs, hailed the Web3 portal as a “comprehensive resource” in an April 25 post on X.

According to its website, developers can explore various products and acquire testnet tokens to deploy and test their decentralized applications (DApps) on Ethereum testnets Sepolia and Holesky.

Additionally, a learning program offers tutorials on creating NFTs, setting up Web3 loyalty programs, and securing digital assets with multi-party computation (MPC).

Google Embraces Crypto Evolution

These offerings follow several recent advancements by Google in the Web3 sector. Most notably, Google has enhanced its features to enable users to search wallet balances across various blockchains, including Bitcoin, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, Polygon, and Fantom.

At the start of 2024, Google revised its policies to permit the advertisement of select crypto products on major search engines, such as Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Throughout the previous year, Google seemed to prioritize partnerships in anticipation of launching its portal later this year.

In Oct 2023, Google Cloud’s BigQuery data warehouse was integrated with MultiversX, enabling Web3 projects and users to leverage powerful data analytics and artificial intelligence tools within the Google Cloud ecosystem.

Just a month earlier, in Sept 2023, Google’s BigQuery expanded its data warehouse by adding 11 blockchain networks, including Avalanche, Arbitrum, Cronos, Ethereum’s Görli testnet, Fantom, Near, Optimism, Polkadot, Polygon’s mainnet, Polygon’s Mumbai testnet, and Tron.

The author’s views are for reference only and shall not constitute any investment advice. Please ensure you fully understand and assess the products and associated risks before purchasing.