Google Hires Former PayPal Executive to Lead Expansion Into Crypto Space

Google, one of the largest companies in the world and the leading search engine, is considering to allow users to store cryptocurrencies in digital cards.

Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Google has hired former PayPal Senior Vice President and Chief Product Architect Arnold Goldberg to lead its payments division, according to a Bloomberg report. 

Goldberg was previously the VP of Merchant Product and Technology at payments processing giant PayPal.

According to Bill Ready, Google’s president of commerce, the tech giant wants to broaden the scope of its payments efforts across the spectrum of consumer-facing use cases. He said:

“The move is part of a broader strategy to team up with a wider range of financial services, including cryptocurrencies. The business, known for the Google Pay system and mobile wallet, has largely avoided the crypto industry.”

Crypto-related efforts referenced in the interview with Ready highlighted Google’s relationships with industry companies Coinbase and BitPay, both of which announced last year that their customers could connect their respective crypto debit cards to Google Pay’s app. Ready reportedly said that more linkages of this kind are on the horizon. He commented:

“Crypto is something we pay a lot of attention to. As user demand and merchant demand evolves, we’ll evolve with it.” 

Last year, Google eased its advertising policies for crypto exchanges and wallet providers, though it still maintains restrictions on topics like initial coin offerings. 

Market Reaction to Google’s Announcement

As soon as the news went live and started circulating through the Internet, both Bitcoin and Ethereum’s prices spiked for a little while. Then, as people read exactly what Google announced, the excitement wore off. The two leading cryptocurrencies have been trading horizontally, lightly trending downwards for a while.