The cloud provider has announced that it is launching a dedicated Digital Assets Team to explore the potential of blockchain-based platforms.
The announcement reads that through this new team, Google Cloud will be better placed to “support customers’ needs in building, transacting, storing value, and deploying new products on blockchain-based platforms.”
Building business around blockchain applications would position Google Cloud to leverage the fast-growing momentum behind decentralised-finance (DeFi) opportunities in the cryptocurrency market.
Citing blockchain and distributed-ledger-based technologies such as Hedera, Theta Labs, and Dapper Labs as companies which have already built on top of Google Cloud, the release adds that the Digital Assets Team will undertake a number of initiatives in the short and long term, including:
- Providing dedicated node hosting/remote procedure call (RPC) nodes for developers, allowing users to deploy blockchain validators on Google Cloud via a single click (“click to deploy”).
- Participating in node validation and on-chain governance with select partners.
- Helping developers and users host their nodes on the cleanest cloud in the industry, supporting their environmental, social, and governance initiatives.
- Supporting on-chain governance via participation from Google Cloud executives and senior engineers.
- Hosting several public BigQuery datasets on our Marketplace, including full blockchain transaction history for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, Litecoin, Zcash, Theta, Hedera Hashgraph, Band Protocol, Polygon, XRP, and Dogecoin.
- Driving co-development and integration into Google’s robust partner ecosystem, including participating in the Google Cloud Marketplace.
- Embracing joint go-to-market initiatives with our ecosystem partners where Google Cloud can be the connective tissue between traditional enterprise and blockchain technologies.
Notably, the announcement adds that as the new team grows, it will be exploring opportunities to enable Google Cloud customers to make and receive payments using cryptocurrencies.