The news: Google Cloud is creating its own blockchain, named Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), for payments and financial products.
Why this matters: GCUL will operate as a neutral infrastructure layer that can also enable Python-based smart contracts, per a LinkedIn post by Google’s web3 head of strategy, Rich Widmann.
This means any financial institution or intermediary can build with GCUL and can access Google’s massive scale: billions of Google users and hundreds of institutional clients through Google Cloud and Ads.
Our first take: The post-GENIUS Act environment has major institutions scrambling to get a first-mover advantage on stablecoins.
Google likely is betting that it’s better positioned to offer clients and financial institutions than Stripe’s Tempo or Circle’s Arc because its blockchain service simplifies integration for multiple currencies and assets, stabilizes fees, and is designed for safety—as a private and permissioned system, it benefits from Google’s tech security stack.
The blockchain could also be the first step toward issuing its own stablecoin—which could have wide-reaching implications for Google Pay and Google’s payment acceptance for services like ads and Google Cloud.
This is our immediate perspective. We’re actively developing this story throughout the day with more research and data from the EMARKETER database. Our in-depth analysis will be included in our client-only Briefings. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.
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