Google Cloud said on Thursday that it's added data on 11 new blockchains to BigQuery, the tech giant’s online repository of large datasets.
In addition to existing datasets it has for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, and five other blockchains, Google’s cloud computing arm has also added support for Polygon, Tron, and Arbitrum. The update will also include data on Ordinals, the workaround developers have used to mint non-fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain, according to a GCP blog post.
BigQuery is the cloud provider’s tool for developers to quickly access public and private data. In 2018, it worked with Bitcoin buffs to create a free, publicly accessible means for developers to access data on the Bitcoin blockchain. One year later, Google Cloud added six other blockchains to the mix. The most recently added blockchains are a mix of Google-created data, community-sourced data, and data developed in conjunction with crypto foundations and companies, James Tromans, Google Cloud’s head of Web3, told Fortune.
“This is a really accessible way for you to get going in understanding the ecosystem,” he said, pointing out why non-crypto developers would be attracted to the new additions to BigQuery.
The expansion of its data offerings for various blockchains continues the cloud computing giant’s push into the world of Web3, after formally unveiling its digital assets team and then its Web3 engineering division in the first half of 2022.
Since establishing both teams, GCP has steadily announced a slew of partnerships with big names in the world of crypto, including Coinbase, BNB Chain, Celo, and Casper Labs. It has also created what it calls a Blockchain Node Engine, essentially a more streamlined method for developers to access and use blockchain’s on Google Cloud’s network of servers.
And in April, the cloud provider unveiled both a substantial partnership with Polygon Labs as well as what it calls its Web3 startup program, a set of incentives and grants to attract Web3 developers to build on Google Cloud.
While adding data on 11 more blockchains to BigQuery is not as expansive as some of its prior announcements, Tromans, Google Cloud’s head of Web3, says it’s part of a push of making blockchains more accessible: “Millions of developers that are already on GCP can access this data in a way that's familiar to them without having to understand how to run blockchain nodes.”
