Cryptocurrency news is an everyday occurrence now.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency events circulate and have dramatic effects on the price of digital currencies – just a tweet from Elon Musk will send prices into a spin – or into orbit.
It’s hard to believe, but Bitcoin first appeared in 2008, and since then, there have been thousands of new cryptocurrencies enter the market. Nobody knows how many cryptocurrencies exist.
The ease of transactions, the current lack of laws, the lack of intermediaries, and the short transaction time are all factors that have contributed to the rise in popularity of these digital currencies.
Cryptocurrencies were never going to have an easy ride. They are complicated – and of necessity – very security-heavy.
This has made it difficult for bigger players who want to jump into the market, find traction to justify their investment, and make a good return.
Until recently, institutions and many private investors saw crypto as a speculative bubble that would explode and then collapse on itself.
As acceptance has become more widespread, major digital companies have taken a long, hard look at crypto and the blockchain with a view to getting into the market.
The latest rumor to hit the digital currency world is that Google is looking serious about making a “googly” style product for the market.
And when it comes to Google, it is a one-stop-shop for everything.
If you have any kind of query, a document to write, a spreadsheet to complete, and hundreds of other digital needs, Google will probably be your go-to – so why not crypto as well?
There is no official news about Google’s new venture – so we have to ask why a centralized system like Google would want to start a decentralized system? What benefits would be in it for the Google beast?
Until recently, the tech giants have always been wary of cryptocurrencies. As a result, Amazon and Google have done their best to keep cryptocurrencies on hold while the rest of the world chases them down.
Firstly, there’s the money angle. Creating cryptocurrencies may not make financial sense for certain types of businesses. Aside from non-profit organizations, the only reason anyone would go into the crypto business would be to profit from it.
Because the blockchain, the technology that underpins digital currencies, is a non-profit notion, there has to be something built on top of it to enable profits to accrue. The goal of a blockchain is to create a decentralized system that puts the control in the user’s hands. This runs entirely counter to the philosophy of digital giants like Google.
Over the years, Google has acquired almost a sixth sense about what will work and what won’t work. It doesn’t always get it right, though – remember the glasses with the built-in head-up display?
Cryptocurrencies are undoubtedly risky, and their future is not assured. One of the primary reasons for this is that there is no regulatory authority behind cryptocurrencies – so it’s a bit of a Wild West. However, digital players, like Google, prefer certainty.
Because the basic idea behind cryptocurrencies is building transaction systems free of regulations, Google might well find itself on the other side of the lines in a dispute about processing fees or transaction percentages.
Fraud is also a problem for Google. Even with all their digital firepower, tracing and tracking any transactions is virtually impossible, so the chances of recovering any money in fraudulent activity are low. This might be another reason Google is dragging its heels.
Because technology is constantly evolving and highly dynamic, as customer demand and desire for crypto grow, Google may be compelled to include crypto rewards features in its search, and it may well find itself having to join the crypto club – rather than be left using somebody else’s digital currencies.
There are six main reasons that Google might want to create its own digital currency:
- With a cryptocurrency, you can use a reward system. This will help make your platform more accessible by allowing shares on other social media platforms and winning rewards each time there is a referral. Google might well offer rewards to start-ups wanting to acquire new customers and enable the companies to use the service by paying for those rewards per click, for example. It might even be possible to spend such tokens, or rewards, with Google to enhance or concentrate searches more accurately.
- Google may be able to use a utility token or model to launch start-up services or advertise existing businesses within the platform. Utility tokens are usually issued to fund the development of the currency itself – but they can also be a way of trading within the platform. Marketing services will be able to find out how much interest there is in a particular project as they will know how many active wallets are holding the currency and selling or using the utility tokens to participate. As a way of qualifying leads and honing your service or product, this is one of the best.
- Google Play may well be able to utilize an “in-game” currency. This could take the form of tools, cards, jewels, loot, points, or any other digital item which is exchangeable. These would be used on the blockchain and fully tradable between users and Google as payment to and from players.
- Starting a capital-intensive business is complex, and most IT startups find it difficult to get into the offices of venture capital firms or angel investors to pitch them. Usually, you must follow a slew of rules, and if you’re not in their risk portfolio, or they can’t see your vision because it won’t provide them with the returns they want in the future – you won’t get funding. This is not a concern for Google, which has options – even for community projects or charity work. Where start-ups may be forced to source this funding stumbling block, which is far too high, and where many projects die, Google has deep pockets – bootstrapping can only take you so far until your burn rate consumes your runway. Again Google wins here because rather than selling their shares to regular investors, they could consider a public capital raising using techniques such as an ICO or an IEO. But, again, they would use a blockchain to fund the business and reach their global pool of investors. They are not limited by geographic location, currency exchange rates, or geopolitical concerns.
- Typically, any eCommerce firm knows all about the difficulties of receiving payments by credit cards, bank deposits, debit cards, or even digital transfers like PayPal. Each payment provider has its own API, which necessitates time-consuming monitoring and, in many cases, personal intervention, particularly in the case of chargebacks and refunds. Due to no fault of the firm, these payment difficulties can cost companies millions of dollars and ruin the customer experience. With a cryptocurrency, Google will ensure the payment and settlement layers are all handled on their blockchain, with all record-keeping handled automatically, and payments delivered promptly. Refunds are very simple to process and may significantly reduce the costs of running an eCommerce business on the Google platform.
. - By using a blockchain, Google may also cut out the middlemen in a variety of ways. For example, operating web domains on a blockchain domain, customers won’t have to pay a yearly hosting fee or worry about their domain being taken away, since they now own it completely. Google would make the perfect host – instead of hiring someone to write code to fit your central database and tech stack, you could store text or asset files on chains like IPFS. You can also cut out the middleman when it comes to development because open-source tech can be found for all blockchains and migrated to yours at a lower cost, rather than hiring someone to write code to fit your central database and tech stack. Using a blockchain would offer access to a wealth of free, open-source code that may assist in creating a more cost-effective and superior product.
And this – after all – is exactly what Google promised since its foundation – right? To quote: “Google’s mission statement is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Google is perhaps the most successful company to develop a strategic approach to organize information for online users in the last two decades. With this company, it has become easier and better structured, making it not only accessible but also functional. It is this influential role that the mission statement of the company emphasizes.
Based on this analysis, the following characteristics make up Google’s mission statement:
- Sharing of new ideas
- Global accessibility
- Boosting organization
By introducing their own cryptocurrency, Google will be even further ahead in meeting their aims.