Google has appointed an executive to lead a newly created unit dedicated to blockchain and data storage technology.
After years of tiptoeing its way into blockchain projects, tech giant Google is finally looking to start exploring on its own.
The Alphabet subsidiary has appointed a new chief executive to lead a unit dedicated to “blockchain, other next-generation distributed computing and data storage technologies.”
Alphabet’s Vice President of Engineering Shivakumar Venkataraman will now head the unit as the founding leader of Labs, an incubator created by Google to test new projects dedicated to virtual and augmented reality .
Venkataraman, who worked at Google for more than 18 years, spent more than 25 years as a software engineer for companies like IBM as well as more than 10 years in advertising for the tech giant, according to his LinkedIn page .
Google previously hired former PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg, who will head Google’s payments division as part of a strategy to tie up a range of financial services including cryptocurrencies.
The moves from Google come after years of direct investment in nascent blockchain technology. The tech giant appears to want to keep pace with Facebook’s efforts into the metaverse, as well as Twitter’s investments in crypto infrastructure.
