Google Cloud and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase have formed a long-term partnership that aims to better serve Web3 developers.
Coinbase selected Google Cloud as a strategic cloud provider to create advanced exchange and data services, the companies said in a news release Tuesday (Oct. 11).
Per the release, Coinbase will utilize Google Cloud’s computer platform to “process blockchain data at scale, and enhance the global reach of its crypto services by leveraging Google’s premium fiber-optic network.”
Additionally, Coinbase will build its global data platform on Google Cloud’s infrastructure and leverage its data and analytics technologies to provide Coinbase customers “with machine learning-driven crypto insights.”
Google Cloud will also allow select customers, beginning with those in the Web3 ecosystem, to pay for its cloud services via certain cryptocurrencies. The release noted that Google will use Coinbase Prime for institutional crypto services, such as secure custody and reporting.
“Powered by Coinbase Commerce — which enables merchants globally to accept cryptocurrency payments in a decentralized way — the new payments experience will benefit Google Cloud’s customers and partners by increasing the optionality of payments for Google Cloud services,” the release said.
PYMNTS noted last month that there are still some unanswered questions surrounding Web3. For example, Web3 assumes a distributed infrastructure — including distributed data storage — where tech giants such Google Cloud don’t run everything.
Read more: Jury Still Out as Web3 Takes Shape
That raises the question: Who will pay the electric bill for the ground-based server farms on which the cloud actually runs?
Web3 is constructed on blockchains — that’s where the privacy and security come from with centralized, private corporate ledgers — but today’s blockchains can’t even store a non-fungible token (NFT) image because of the size and cost.
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