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Search Search:
GOOGLE JUST GAVE ITS NOD OF APPROVAL TO BLOCKCHAIN AND CRYPTO TECHNOLOGY
ALPHABET CEO SUNDAR PICHAI JUST MADE A PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING BLOCKCHAIN
DEVELOPMENT.
Nicholas Rossolillo
(TMFnrossolillo)
Feb 8, 2022 at 6:55AM
Author Bio
Nicholas has been a writer for the Motley Fool since 2015, covering companies
primarily in the consumer goods and technology sectors. He is also the founder
and president of Concinnus Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor based in
Spokane, WA. He enjoys the outdoors up and down the West Coast with his wife and
their Humane Society-rescued dog.
KEY POINTS
* Just days before Alphabet's Q4 2021 earnings call, Google Cloud announced a
dedicated team for blockchain development.
* Blockchain technology has uses beyond just cryptocurrency and could actually
be the next evolution in computing.
Motley Fool Issues Rare “All In” Buy Alert
Blockchain technology and the cryptocurrencies built on it have been a hot
investment theme the past few years. However, outside of a handful of fintech
companies that enable trading of cryptos or that buy and hold crypto, mega-tech
business executives have had little to say about blockchain or internal projects
they might be working on.
That might be about to change. The chief executive officer of Google parent
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG), Sundar Pichai, just made a public comment
on blockchain when asked about future internet tech development. That doesn't
mean you should start throwing your hard-earned money at cryptocurrencies, but
it is a nod of approval to the underlying blockchain tech that's worth paying
attention to.
Image source: Getty Images.
GOOGLE IS "DEFINITELY LOOKING AT BLOCKCHAIN"
A big, bright spotlight has been shone on Alphabet's knockout Q4 2021 earnings.
A 32% year-over-year increase in revenue, driven by the more than $61.2 billion
in Google advertising during the final months of the year, is no joke.
But Google is always on the lookout for new opportunities. Its bustling YouTube
business segment has paid off handsomely in recent years, and while Google Cloud
isn't profitable (yet), that division grew 44% year over year in Q4 to $5.54
billion. Clearly Google knows how to foster growth in emerging technologies.
To that end, a stock analyst asked Pichai about web3 on the earnings call. Web3
has become a woefully overused and cheapened term, but the original basic
meaning refers to a decentralized version of the internet with complex services
built on blockchain -- a distributed electronic ledger that cryptocurrencies
like Bitcoin and Ethereum use to record transaction data. Pichai's response to
the query is worth reviewing at length:
> The web has always evolved, and it's going to continue to evolve. And as
> Google, we have benefited tremendously from open-source technologies, and so
> we do plan to contribute there. There's several areas of interest. AR
> [augmented reality] is a big one at the computing layer. We've been investing
> there for a long time, we'll continue to play a role. And it's something both
> -- not just with the computing layer, but services layer, be it Maps, YouTube,
> Google Meet, etc., I think, will contribute a lot.
>
> On Web3, we are definitely looking at blockchain, and such an interesting and
> powerful technology with broad applications so much broader again than any one
> application. So as a company, we are looking at how we might contribute to the
> ecosystem and add value. Just one example, our Cloud team is looking at how
> they can support our customers' needs in building, transacting, storing value
> and deploying new products on blockchain-based platforms. So we'll definitely
> be watching the space closely and supporting it where we can. Overall, I think
> technology will continue to evolve and innovate, and we want to be
> pro-innovation and approach it that way.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR INVESTORS?
Thanks to movies like Ready Player One and, more recently, Facebook's rebranding
to Meta Platforms, augmented and virtual reality have been billed as an early
version of web3. While that's not exactly an accurate depiction of what web3 is
all about, Google has nonetheless been involved with various AR and VR projects
over the years, and use of its software will no doubt continue in this computing
format.
But more specific to actual web3 was Pichai's comments on blockchain. While the
tech was invented for recording and managing transactions (the first blockchain
was the ledger system Bitcoin utilizes, developed by the pseudonymous Satoshi
Nakamoto), it has far wider use in other services beyond finance.
For example, things like automated execution of contracts between parties, data
sharing and personal identification services, supply chain monitoring,
management of large-scale networks in real time, or certification of property
ownership (uh, non-fungible tokens, but other stuff, too) can all make use of a
distributed ledger system. In this sense, we could think of blockchain
technology as a further fragmentation of current cloud and edge computing
networks, in which data and computing of data gets pushed from a local data
center onto individual devices. Thus, Pichai's indication that the Google Cloud
team is working with customers in this department. In fact, just days before the
Q4 earnings call, Google Cloud announced the creation of the Digital Assets
Team, dedicated to blockchain development.
Again, I wouldn't take the Alphabet CEO's comments as a reason to go load up on
cryptocurrencies as an investment. Nevertheless, it's an interesting (if not
particularly specific) positive comment on blockchain from one of the world's
most important and powerful organizations. If you're looking for a surefire
long-term bet on the technology, owning shares of Alphabet might be the best
ticket there is right now.
SHOULD YOU INVEST $1,000 IN ALPHABET INC. RIGHT NOW?
Before you consider Alphabet Inc., you'll want to hear this.
Our award-winning analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best
stocks for investors to buy right now... and Alphabet Inc. wasn't one of them.
The online investing service they've run for nearly two decades, Motley Fool
Stock Advisor, has beaten the stock market by over 4X.* And right now, they
think there are 10 stocks that are better buys.
See the 10 stocks
*Stock Advisor returns as of January 20, 2022
This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the
“official” recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service.
We’re motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us
all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become
smarter, happier, and richer.
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board
of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and
spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a
member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Nicholas Rossolillo owns
Alphabet (C shares), Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Meta Platforms, Inc. His clients may
own the companies or cryptocurrencies mentioned. The Motley Fool owns and
recommends Alphabet (A shares), Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Meta Platforms, Inc. The
Motley Fool recommends Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool has a disclosure
policy.
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