Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Google has hired former PayPal Senior Vice President and Chief Product Architect Arnold Goldberg to lead its payments division. This was reported in a report from Bloomberg today.
Dive into more financial services
Just three months after abandoning a strategy to let Google Pay users create checking and savings accounts through its proposed Plex service, the search and advertising giant is set to dive deeper into other financial services. For example, cryptocurrency debit cards. The Google President of Commerce Bill Ready told Bloomberg
“Crypto is something we pay a lot of attention to. As user and merchant demand evolves, we will evolve with it.”
Google Pay, the company’s digital wallet for online or contactless mobile purchases, has already taken some tentative steps in the crypto space. In March 2020, in news likely overshadowed by looming COVID lockdowns, Google Pay added integration for the Coinbase Card, a Visa debit card that enables Bitcoin payments. Google Pay users could record the card details on their Android phones and start buying things in Bitcoin. Coinbase Card also integrates with Apple Pay.
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The dominance of apple
In August 2021, months after integrating with Apple Pay, BitPay Mastercards also came to Google Pay. And in October 2021, Bakkt announced that holders of its debit card could use it in conjunction with Google Pay to purchase goods and services using Bitcoin. The service essentially provided a way for people to exchange their BTC for USD at the point of sale.
But Google is lagging behind Apple Pay. Apple’s dominance in the US smartphone market and its focus on app development plays a major role.
And that’s where Goldberg might be able to help. In late 2020, when Goldberg was still with the company, PayPal announced that customers would be able to purchase cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum on its platform. The payment services company steadily expanded its offering over the course of 2021. Crypto payments for merchants and integrations with its Venmo app were launched.
Ready told Bloomberg that Google is not ready for crypto transactions yet. It is clear that it is part of the strategy for the future.
