In what appears to be a push into the crypto space, Google has hired veteran PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg to run its payments division.

Goldberg has been the chief product architect and general manager at PayPal, where he led the company’s checkout and merchant services businesses.

The crypto market might be shrouded in a sentiment of “extreme fear”, according to the Fear & Greed Index lately, but the crypto-adoption stories from massive institutions just keep on coming.

In a conversation this week with Bloomberg, Google’s president of commerce Bill Ready said: “Crypto is something we pay a lot of attention to … As user demand and merchant demand evolves, we’ll evolve with it.”

The Google exec indicated that the online, in-app payments system Google Pay will shift its focus more to being a “comprehensive digital wallet” that includes digital tickets and airline passes.

And according to the report, Google has formed fresh partnerships with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Inc. and crypto payment processor BitPay to enable Google cards to store Bitcoin and other cryptos.

Ready also revealed the tech giant has plans to pursue further deals with more crypto companies. Google already has partnerships, all formed in 2021, with the crypto exchanges Gemini, Coinbase and Bakkt.

 

Will ‘PayPal Coin’ be the next stablecoin?

Meanwhile, as reported earlier this month, also by Bloomberg, PayPal is potentially looking into launching a self-titled stablecoin, in its own further delve into crypto.

Evidence of PayPal’s plans for a stablecoin was apparently found in the company’s iPhone app and shared with the media outlet. Hidden code and images reportedly revealed working development of a “PayPal Coin” backed by the US dollar.

A PayPal spokesperson told Bloomberg that images and code inside of the PayPal app stemmed from a recent internal hackathon, which is an event where developers and software engineers work to swiftly create prototypes of functioning software or hardware for potential use as real projects.

PayPal has offered a crypto service to US customers since October 2020 and expanded this to UK users in late August last year, allowing customers to buy, sell and hold digital currencies on the PayPal app, including: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. 

 

 

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