Google rehires former PayPal executive, emphasizing focus on the cryptocurrency field.

Google announced the hiring of former PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg to further develop financial payment services, including cryptocurrencies. In an interview, he emphasized collaborations with exchanges like Coinbase and crypto payment processors like BitPay last year, and mentioned seeking similar partnerships.

Building a Digital Wallet

Bill Ready, former COO of PayPal and current President of Commerce at Google, joined Google in 2019 to oversee the payment department. He pointed out that Google will focus more on developing a comprehensive digital wallet, including digital tickets, digital airline tickets, digital vaccine passports, and more.

In recent years, digital banks have been on the rise. Google initially planned to integrate banking services into Google Pay, known as the Plex project. However, the project was halted in October last year. The recruitment of Arnold Goldberg is aimed at setting a new strategic direction for future development after the suspension of the Plex project.

Focus on Cryptocurrency

In an interview with Bloomberg, Bill Ready stated that cryptocurrency is an area of great interest for Google. As user and merchant demand increases, Google will further expand its related business.

He emphasized previous collaborations with Coinbase and BitPay, where users can make payments with cryptocurrency through the operation of crypto payment processors, and merchants can receive fiat currency, thereby mitigating cryptocurrency volatility. Google will also seek more strategic partners similar to these.

The collaboration mentioned in the Bloomberg report with Coinbase and BitPay was from last year and does not imply any current partnership between the two parties.

Despite Google having 1.5 billion users worldwide, its digital wallet business faces fierce competition. Analyst Tom Noyes estimated that Google accounted for only 4% of non-contact payments in the United States last year, indicating a significant setback.