By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 25th, 2024
Initially, Google will only allow a handful of customers to use cryptocurrency to pay for its cloud services.
Google has announced a new strategic partnership with a leading crypto exchange Coinbase. The partnership was announced at Google’s Cloud Next conference.
While Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is the biggest sponsor of blockchain, Google has mostly shied away from the ecosystem until now. Earlier in May, it announced it was exploring the possibility of accepting payments with digital currencies. Of all the companies examined, Coinbase had the most capability.
Consequently, Google will now allow its Cloud service users to pay for their usage with cryptocurrency. On its part, Coinbase will migrate its data-related operations from Amazon Web Services to Google’s Cloud infrastructure.
Perks of the Strategic Partnership with Coinbase
While the complete details of the partnership were not made available, both parties will be interacting on multiple levels.
Apart from the earlier-mentioned interaction points, Coinbase will also build its global data platform on the Cloud infrastructure and provide Coinbase customers with crypto insights by leveraging the platform’s analytics technologies.
Meanwhile, Google will use Coinbase Prime for custodial services and reporting. It will also grant Web3 developers access to Google’s BigQuery crypto public datasets through Coinbase Cloud Nodes.
CEO of Coinbase Brian Armstrong expressed his delight that Google Cloud decided to partner with Coinbase to bring new Web3 solutions. He said:
“We could not ask for a better partner to help execute our vision of building a trusted bridge into the Web3 ecosystem.”
Likewise, Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, noted the firm’s readiness to serve the growing Web3 ecosystem. He said:
“Our focus is making it frictionless for all customers to take advantage of our scalability, reliability, security, and data services, so they can focus on innovation.”
Cryptocurrency Payment Will Be Selectively Available
Meanwhile, Google will only allow a handful of customers to use cryptocurrency to pay for its cloud services initially. With time, the payment option will become general.
With more businesses requiring cloud services, Google Cloud provides Alphabet with a significant way to diversify its income. By partnering with Coinbase, the firm could leapfrog other competitors who do not yet have such a payment option.
Following the announcement, the shares of Coinbase are up about 3.6% at $69.42 during pre-market trading.