Google hires former PayPal exec in crypto push

Google has hired former PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg to run its payments division as the company eyes offering a broader range of financial services including cryptocurrencies.

Fast facts

• “Crypto is something we pay a lot of attention to,” Google’s president of commerce Bill Ready told Bloomberg.

• PayPal has already incorporated cryptocurrency into its business, recently announcing it was exploring a USD-backed stablecoin for payments and supporting crypto payments on its popular payment subsidiary Venmo last year.

• Google’s payment app, Google Pay, lags behind its main competitor Apple’s payment platform, which announced it was exploring cryptocurrencies late last year.

• Google is making a U-turn into banking services after scrapping digital checking and savings service “Plex” last October.

• Google has already partnered with crypto firms like CoinBase and BitPay to store crypto assets in digital cards while having users pay in fiat currencies.