Google News
The latest Google crypto feature allows you to track Ethereum balances on Ethereum wallet addresses directly from the Google search engine. The biggest website in the world now tells you how much ETH some wallets hold. It is enough to go to Google and enter the desired Ethereum address in the search bar.
The new feature works through block explorer Etherscan, a website that provides data on the Ethereum blockchain. The feature was first announced by Google Ventures director Han Hua in a tweet on October 11. In terms of market capitalization, Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.
Dapps (decentralized applications) are built on its blockchain. Trading activity on the platform amounts to billions of dollars. With the right tools, anyone can find out how much ETH a wallet has, what transactions it has made, and what applications its owner has accessed online.
Some companies have built their businesses based on this type of data, which is very valuable to marketers and analysts.
Where is the Bitcoin?
This new functionality is currently very limited to Ethereum only so many in the crypto community are wondering what happened to the largest and most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin and why Google didn't include it.
Despite this, Google plays a key role in involving Internet users in the world of services based on blockchain and Web3 technology. Google is becoming more and more focused on cryptocurrencies. This new feature comes in addition to Google's partnership with crypto exchange Coinbase to enable its users to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin cryptocurrencies to pay for cloud services, which is expected to go live in early 2023.
Richard Widmann, Google's head of Web3 and Cloud strategy, said the company is working on developing its Web3 features. This suggests that Google, arguably one of the most important technology companies in the world, is firmly focused on what is believed to be the next interaction of the Internet that relies heavily on blockchain technology.
Chief investment officer Markus Thielen of digital asset services platform Matrixport said we shouldn't be surprised by Google's efforts in the Web3 space, as both commercial banks and Web2 companies continue to do "a huge amount of work in the background." “This crypto winter is clearly different as established firms continue to deploy their balance sheet [to crypto investments] and might even leapfrog the incumbents”.