Google Cloud dug deeper into the world of blockchains on Tuesday when LayerZero, a crypto startup recently valued at $3 billion, announced that the cloud provider will verify data sent between blockchains on the startup’s messaging protocol.
Most blockchains exist in isolation, meaning information on one chain isn't accessible to another. As the number of blockchains, or decentralized databases, have multiplied, developers increasingly use many at once. Hence, products that can transmit data between blockchains, like LayerZero’s protocol, have become more in demand.
Blockchains are defined by their “trustlessness,” or the fact that it’s extremely difficult to change or fabricate data on them. However, outside data transmitted from one blockchain to another can be fabricated, which is why messaging protocols like LayerZero use outside verifiers to attest to the veracity and reliability of information sent between chains.
This is where Google Cloud comes in. Developers using LayerZero already rely on oracles, or outside verifiers, like Chainlink or Polyhedra, to verify messages sent between blockchains. Now, Google Cloud will be added to the mix, and for any developer spinning up a future application that uses the protocol, Google’s cloud computing arm will be added as the default verifier, LayerZero CTO Ryan Zarick told Fortune.
Outside verifiers get a small fee for each transaction, he told Fortune, but he declined to provide any projections of the revenue Google Cloud may reap for becoming a LayerZero oracle. “They're really getting into the infrastructure of Web3—and really kind of all-in in that space,” he added.
Google Cloud’s entrance as an infrastructure provider for “blockchain interoperability” is yet another bet on Web3. In 2022, it announced the creation of its own dedicated digital assets and Web3 engineering teams. Since then, the cloud computing giant has announced a suite of partnerships with crypto firms and blockchains, including Coinbase, BNB Chain, Celo, and Casper Labs. It has offered up its servers as validators, or computers that help secure and maintain blockchains, for the Sky Mavis, Solana, and Tezos blockchains. And, in October, it unveiled the Blockchain Node Engine, a streamlined method for developers to access and use blockchains on Google’s servers.
Google Cloud’s most recent partnership with LayerZero marks its first step into yet another subset of Web3 infrastructure. “Teaming up with LayerZero as an oracle across 15 chains will not only enhance the security of LayerZero’s cross-chain messaging capabilities but further accelerate its commitment to Web3 interoperability and enterprise adoption,” James Tromans, head of Web3 at Google Cloud, said in a statement.
