The news will certainly delight crypto aficionados: Alphabet's Google (GOOGL) might offer crypto in its payment features as part of a broader strategy to team up with a wider range of financial services.
That will help show users “the entire array of financial services out there,” Google’s president of commerce, Bill Ready, told Bloomberg. “Our aim is to help create connections,” he said. “We’re not a conflicted party.”
The business, known for the Google Pay system and mobile wallet, has largely avoided the crypto industry.
But the company just hired a former PayPal (PYPL) executive, Arnold Goldberg, to run its payments division after previously retreating from a push into banking.
“Crypto is something we pay a lot of attention to,” Ready said. “As user demand and merchant demand evolves, we’ll evolve with it,” Ready said.
The Mountain View, Calif., company still isn’t accepting crypto for transactions.
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Given Google’s dominance in search and other online services, a full embrace of crypto could be a game changer for the fast-growing industry, which is pushing for mainstream crypto adoption.
Google does have enormous consumer reach and a huge balance sheet. The technology giant takes no fees on transactions with its mobile wallet, and Ready said there are no plans to change that.
The internet giant didn't immediately return a request to comment.
In October, Google and U.S.-based crypto marketplace Bakkt joined forces to enable nearly 10 million Bakkt users to link their virtual Visa (V) debit cards with Google Pay and purchase goods and services online, using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
Once the Bakkt cards are linked to Google's payment services, cryptocurrencies will get converted into the government-backed fiat currency seamlessly whenever payments are made.
Google has also partnered with Coinbase (COIN) and BitPay to store crypto assets in digital cards, while still having users pay in traditional currencies.
