According to the report, the move to hire Arnold Goldberg to run its payments division is part of a bigger effort for the business (Google) to embrace a wider range of financial services, including cryptocurrency.
According to a Bloomberg story, Alphabet’s Google has hired former PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg to lead its payments division after earlier retracting from a drive into banking.
Google’s head of commerce Bill Ready told Bloomberg that Goldberg’s hiring is part of a bigger effort for the business to embrace a wider range of financial services, including cryptocurrency. Google has never offered cryptocurrency as part of its banking services.
Google-crypto relationship
Bakkt, a cryptocurrency platform, announced in the fall that its virtual Visa debit card would be accessible for use on Google Pay both online and in stores. Bakkt’s Google Pay support follows Coinbase’s announcement earlier this year that its Coinbase Cards will support Apple Pay and Google Pay.
According to Bloomberg, Google has worked with Coinbase and BitPay to store crypto assets in digital cards while still allowing customers to pay in traditional currencies.
Google is aiming to make more of these types of agreements with crypto startups, according to Ready, while the company is still not taking bitcoin for transactions.
“We pay a lot of attention to cryptocurrency,” Ready added. “We’ll evolve with user and merchant demand as it evolves,” he told Bloomberg.
