- Google Finance has added a crypto section to its front page
- ‘Crypto’ now sits alongside US, Asian, and European stocks as well as currencies
- Google has clearly thawed on its relationship with crypto since banning ads in 2017
Google Finance has added a crypto tab to its front page, putting it alongside US, European, and Asian stocks as well as currencies. The ‘crypto’ category features Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash, the four coins picked by PayPal when their crypto service launched last year, in another example of cryptocurrency creeping into the mainstream. It shows that Google’s relationship with crypto has come a long way since then banned crypto adverts in 2017.
Google Finance Reticence Reflective of Fractious Relationship
In many ways it’s a surprise that Google Finance has held off from listing at least Bitcoin on its front page, given that the multiple mainstream financial outlets have done this in previous years, but perhaps Google’s fractious relationship with cryptocurrency is behind its hesitancy. Google was among a number of big tech firms (and Bing) who banned cryptocurrency adverts in 2018 in response to scammers utilizing their platforms to steal crypto from unsuspecting holders.
The move frustrated a number of legitimate cryptocurrency companies who saw a vital source of exposure cut off, and the move was generally seen as a knee-jerk reaction to the problem.
The Google ban only lasted for four months however before it was reversed, although its decision to do so was largely based on Facebook taking its share of crypto ad revenue after they reversed their own ban just weeks after implementing it. Since then Google has come out as somewhat pro-crypto, with Google Cloud partnering with blockchain developer TYMLEZ in 2019 and becoming an EOS block producer in October last year.
Coin Pick Matches Paypal
Google’s pick of coins for their Google Finance crypto section matches that of PayPal’s, with newer coins like ADA, BNB and DOT missing out, potentially suggesting that Google feels that older proof-of-work coins are more secure than those on newer consensus mechanisms.
