Google Cloud to Provide Developer Access to 11 More Blockchains Including Tron, Polygon

In its announcement on Friday, September 22, Google Cloud announced adding 11 more blockchains to the BigQuery public datasets program. Google Cloud announced that this extends Google Cloud’s collaboration with the blockchain community since early 2018, aimed at democratizing blockchain data through its BigQuery public datasets program

Alongside its current datasets covering Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, and five other blockchain networks, Google’s cloud computing division has now expanded its support to include Polygon, Tron, and Arbitrum. Additionally, the update encompasses information about Ordinals, the method developers have employed to create non-fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain, as outlined in a GCP blog post.

BigQuery is Google Cloud’s tool designed to grant developers swift access to both public and private datasets. In 2018, it collaborated with Bitcoin enthusiasts to establish a free, publicly available method for developers to retrieve data from the Bitcoin blockchain.

A year later, Google Cloud expanded its offering to encompass six additional blockchain networks. The latest additions to the collection include data from a combination of sources, including Google-developed data, community-contributed data, and data co-developed with crypto foundations and companies. Speaking on the development, James Tromans, Global Head of Web3, Google Cloud said:

“We’re doing this because blockchain foundations, Web3 analytics firms, partners, developers, and customers tell us they want a more comprehensive view across the crypto landscape, and to be able to query more chains. They want to answer complex questions and verify subjective claims like ‘how many NFTs were minted today across three specific chains?’ or ‘how do transaction fees compare across chains?’ or ‘how many active wallets are on the top EVM chains?’”

Google Cloud Expanding Its Data Offerings

Google Cloud’s expansion of its data offerings for various blockchains is a significant step in its foray into the Web3 world. This venture began with the formal introduction of its digital assets team and Web3 engineering division in the first half of 2022.

Since establishing these teams, GCP has been steadily forming partnerships with prominent players in the crypto realm, including Coinbase, BNB Chain, Celo, and Casper Labs. Additionally, it introduced the Blockchain Node Engine, a streamlined approach for developers to access and utilize blockchain capabilities within Google Cloud’s server network.

In April, the cloud provider solidified its commitment to Web3 by partnering with Polygon Labs and unveiling the Web3 startup program, which offers incentives and grants to attract Web3 developers to build on Google Cloud.

While the inclusion of data from 11 more blockchains in BigQuery may not be as extensive as some previous announcements, James Tromans, Google Cloud’s head of Web3, emphasizes that it’s part of a broader effort to make blockchains more accessible to the millions of developers already on GCP. This approach allows them to access blockchain data in a familiar manner, eliminating the need to delve into the intricacies of running blockchain nodes.