A few days ago, YouTube made a blog post announced that the CEO Susan Wojcicki had stepped down after almost ten years. Wojcicki told her staff she is leaving to “start a new chapter with full focus on family, health and personal projects that I am passionate about again.” Neal Mohan, who since 2015 chief product officer from YouTube is the replacement for Wojcicki.
Bullish on web3, blockchain and NFTs
A year ago you could already read that Mohan was very enthusiastic about web3, blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. He revealed that YouTube was looking for ways to integrate web3 technology, either by “making YouTube more immersive” by using the metaverse or NFTs. According to Mohan, NFTs are an “engaging, verifiable way for fans to own unique videos, photos, art and even experiences from their favorite creators.”
At the time, Mohan wrote the following about this:
“We believe that new technologies such as blockchain and NFTs can enable creators to build deeper relationships with their fans. Together they will be able to work on new projects and earn money in ways that were not possible before. There’s a lot going into making sure we approach these new technologies responsibly, but we think there’s incredible potential as well.”
Google’s step into web3
Wojcicki became CEO of YouTube in 2014 after moving from Google, YouTube’s parent company. Google itself has also made tentative steps in the world of web3 in the past year. In October, the company announced the launch of a cloud-based service for Ethereum (ETH) projects and developers: the Blockchain Node Engine.
The service automatically hosts and manages individual ones nodes that contribute to the network, bringing the reliability, performance, and security people expect from Google Cloud Compute to the crypto industry.
The following month, the tech giant revealed that it would be extending the Blockchain Node Engine to the Solana (SOL) blockchain, a feature set to launch in the first quarter of this year.
