Coinbase as Google Cloud Crypto Custody Solution

The search giant said on Tuesday that it would use Coinbase as its cryptocurrency. At the beginning of 2023, Coinbase announced that it would use the Google Cloud Platform to accept cryptocurrency payments for cloud services. Even while Coinbase’s stock jumped as high as 8.4 percent on Tuesday, it’s still down more than 70 percent year to date.

The partnership, which was announced at the Google Cloud Next conference, could bring innovative businesses to Google in a field that is competitive and growing quickly. With its rapid growth, Alphabet’s cloud business helps diversify the company away from its reliance on advertising.

In an interview with CNBC, Amit Zavery, VP and GM and Head of Platform at Google Cloud, revealed that the company’s Cloud Platform infrastructure service would accept cryptocurrency payments from a small number of Web3 customers who wished to do so through an integration with the Coinbase Commerce service. Web3 is a shorthand for “decentralized and distributed.” It refers to internet services that are not controlled by a single entity, such as Facebook or Google. According to Zavery, more and more Google services will support bitcoin payments in the future.

The price of the agreement was kept confidential. Like with its previous commerce partnerships, Coinbase will take a cut of any transactions processed via its platform, Migdal said.

But there was no guarantee that Google Cloud would use Coinbase for the agreement’s transactional parts. One example of a service that allows companies to accept digital currency payments is PayPal. In regards to the bitcoin side of things, “we did look at other firms,” Zavery said. He concluded that Coinbase was superior in every way.

Coinbase Prime is a tool that lets businesses store and trade cryptocurrency safely. Google is investigating its potential application. Zavery says that Google Cloud will run a series of experiments to see how it can help with the management of bitcoin assets.

It’s possible it may be a dangerous undertaking. In August, Coinbase said it had to pay $377 million because the value of its bitcoin assets had dropped.

In May, Google said it was considering allowing users to make purchases using cryptocurrency. Migdal says that Coinbase and Google have been talking for months about ways to work together. For example, they could help with business transactions, use cloud computing, and make the Coinbase Prime service bigger.

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and other forms of blockchain technology have recently been given greater emphasis by Google Cloud. Thomas Kurian is in charge of Google Cloud. In the past, he has worked hard to expand into important markets like media and retail.