Google Branches Into Banking, Is It a Threat to Bitcoin?
The big threat for Bitcoin at the moment is Google’s quantum computing prowess. A move by the search giant into banking however, could be a whole different matter for the entire crypto industry.
Trust in a Google Bank Account?
According to reports, Google has entered into a partnership with US banking giant Citigroup in order to launch its own ‘smart checking’ bank accounts. The account, code-named Cache, will be available via Google Play and mainstream media is already calling it a ‘bitcoin killer’.
The concept and details are still vague according to the Financial Times, but they too are already touting it as the future of banking. It could be that customers just get access to a slick Google powered platform with a traditional bank account bootstrapped to it. Google is not the first tech giant angling for a slice of the lucrative financial pie and it wont be the last.
The firm clearly sees Facebook as a major threat with its crypto domination ambitions. Considering the huge wall of resistance the social media company has met from global regulators and politicians, Google is taking a more traditional approach in partnering with a well-established bank.
Google executive Caesar Sengupta told the WSJ;
Our approach is going to be to partner deeply with banks and the financial system. It may be the slightly longer path, but it’s more sustainable.
The report hinted that the search and advertising giant was more interested in the information associated with checking accounts such as salaries and shopping habits. Trust will be a key issue here as Google and Facebook both make immense profits from people’s personal data, so finances is the next logical step for them to expand on that.
Sengupta added that the internet monopoly wouldn’t sell checking-account users’ financial data and that it doesn’t use Google Pay data for advertising purposes. Just like Facebook, this response has been expected especially when they’re trying to launch a new product line and mistrust in tech giants is at an all-time high.
No Threat to Bitcoin
It is for this reason that there is no threat to bitcoin whatsoever. If anything, Google delving into banking will strengthen the narrative and need for a decentralized global currency. Forbes, as usual, has been barking up the wrong digital tree claiming that Google bank accounts could be a bigger threat than quantum computing but nothing could be further from the truth.
Bitcoin continues to operate in an entirely different sphere of finance than traditional banking, not to mention it’s highly unlikely investors in the leading cryptocurrency will want to pile out of the asset and move funds into a new Google checkings account.
Would Google bank accounts be a threat to Bitcoin? Add your comments below.
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