- Google Cloud launched a new Web3 hub with tools and educational content for blockchain developers.
- Mixed reactions in the crypto community; some praise it as comprehensive, others critique lack of Bitcoin support.
- Portal allows developers to test decentralized apps on Ethereum testnets and includes multi-party computation security tutorials.
Google Cloud has unveiled a new Web3 hub featuring tools and educational content for blockchain developers, such as data sets and guides on how to create non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The initiative, however, has received a varied response from the crypto community.
Phil Geiger, vice president of product marketing at Unchained, expressed concerns on X on April 25 about the lack of support for Bitcoin and lightning, remarking, “It seems like an oversight to ignore the most important cryptocurrency.”
No native #bitcoin and lightning support? Seems like an oversight to ignore the most important cryptocurrency
— Phil Geiger (@phil_geiger) April 25, 2024
Crypto trader MartyParty, who maintains anonymity and has 80,700 followers on X, also shared his disappointment on April 26, commenting, “Not impressed. Google is way behind.”
Conversely, some have welcomed the new portal. Ivaibi Festo, the founder of Mitroplus Labs, praised it as a “comprehensive resource” in his April 25 X post.
According to its website, developers are provided with a variety of products and can obtain testnet tokens to deploy and test their decentralized applications on the Ethereum testnets, Sepolia and Holesky.
Additionally, there is a learning program that includes tutorials on how to develop an NFT, implement Web3 loyalty programs, and secure digital assets using multi-party computation.
These offerings follow several recent advances Google has made in the Web3 sector.
Most notably, Google has enhanced its features to enable users to search for wallet balances across various blockchains, including Bitcoin, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, Polygon, and Fantom.
At the start of 2024, Google revised its policies to permit advertising of specific crypto products, including Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, on leading search engines.
Reports are circulating that Google will be changing their policy and allowing #Bitcoin ETF ads starting on Jan 29th.
— The ₿itcoin Therapist (@TheBTCTherapist) January 25, 2024
Google processes 100K searches/sec ????
Bitcoin is going to have unprecedented levels of institutional and retail exposure.
Prepare accordingly
Throughout 2023, Google seemed to concentrate on forming strategic partnerships in anticipation of launching its portal this year.
In October 2023, Google Cloud’s BigQuery data warehouse integrated with MultiversX, enhancing the capacity for Web3 projects and users to gain insightful analytics and leverage artificial intelligence tools within the Google Cloud ecosystem.
A month earlier, in September 2023, Google’s BigQuery expanded its offerings by adding 11 blockchain networks to its data warehouse. The newly included networks were Avalanche, Arbitrum, Cronos, Ethereum’s Görli testnet, Fantom, Near, Optimism, Polkadot, Polygon’s mainnet, Polygon’s Mumbai testnet, and Tron.