Facebook created a huge stir in the global monetary system after it unveiled its cryptocurrency Libra on June 18. From Washington to London, Russia to Japan, every nation in this world took a moment to see what the social media giant is doing, and several government regulators opposed the move.
However, no one can deny the fact that if Facebook releases Libra publicly, it will impact the current monetary system. In its white paper for the token, Facebook said that it want Libra to be an affordable mode of sending and receiving money globally. Riding on the over 2 billion strong user base, Libra can completely change the way people do transactions, doing more so with digital coins rather than bank deposits.
But that’s it. As of now, Facebook has only focused on building an alternate money exchange system, and nothing else. However, every crypto-blockchain enthusiast will agree that blockchain tech is far more capable than mere money transfers. And that’s exactly what Google is eyeing for.
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Let’s first understand the reach and operations of the two giants. Facebook’s main platforms are social networking platforms, Facebook App and Instagram, and two popular messaging apps, WhatsApp, and Messenger. That’s pretty much it. Within these four platforms, the behemoth company has more than 2 billion subscribers, which generated about $55 billion in revenue for 2018.
Google, on the other hand, has YouTube, Google Search, Chrome, Android, Gmail, G Suit, and much more. It has everything covered, write from video sharing to emails and smartphone operating systems. This gives the company an edge over Facebook in terms of market capitalization. Google managed revenue of a whopping $136 billion in 2018, more than twice of what Facebook did.
Now coming back to blockchain and crypto, we can realize the Facebook has limited access to different genres, and with the kind of platforms it owns, only money transfers are possible. However, Google can utilize blockchain at a far greater level. Right from ensuring the privacy of its email services, to preventing piracy on YouTube, it can cover it all. Google has a perfect use case for blockchain’s mass adoption.
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Recently, Google partnered with blockchain service provider Chainlink and integrated it with its cloud services platform BigQuery, and the early signs are quite positive. This is just the beginning, and the partnership with Chainlink could be just a testing phase before the technology kingpin launches its own blockchain. And the day it does that, the way the world sees at blockchain will change completely.
