Google Blockchain is here and is trying to dominate the market. In a LinkedIn post, Rich Widmann, head of Google’s Web3 Strategy, revealed new details about Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL).
He described GCUL as the culmination of years of internal R&D to compete with other top cryptocurrencies. It is designed to be a reliable neutral infrastructure that supports Python-based smart contracts.
“Financial institutions can be built with GCUL,” Widmann said. Tether said that while Circle’s blockchain is not used, Google has placed itself as a neutral layer that removes those barriers.
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Is Google building a “planet scale” blockchain? Should I invest in alphabet stocks?
The blockchain war among the fintech giants is intensifying. Stripe is the Building Tempo, a payment-centric chain associated with $1.4 trillion processing rails, and Circle has launched an Arc designed around USDC Stablecoin.
Google’s pitch is different. Rather than locking adoption into a single corporate ecosystem, GCUL aims to be plumbed like Ethereum or Polkadot, allowing ledger financial institutions to hire without being bound by the core business of their competitors.
That positioning can be key to adoption, especially if banks, fintechs and payment providers do not want to rely on rival blockchains.
According to a Widmann post, GCUL is “planetary scale” and aims to support billions of users and bank-grade features.
- Stripe Tempo: Focusing on the flow of merchants.
- Circle’s Ark: Stablecoin-Native chain with FX and settlement tools.
- Google’s Gcul: Open infrastructure with Python smart contracts and facility-grade tokenization.
If Google can capture even a portion of Web3, it’s a $400 million market that they can play. Maybe that’s when you load it into the stock of the alphabet?
The timeline is also important. Circle’s arc is already on the pilot stage, and Stripe plans to roll out in 2026, while Gcul is conducting integration testing in 2026 with more extensive testing.
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Here’s the following for Gcul
Stablecoins is over $200 billion, highlighting the demand for a reliable settlement railroad. Layer-1 defi activity grew year-over-year at 35%, even amid wider market volatility. If GCUL can position itself as a neutral base for these flows, it will gain a meaningful share of tokenization and payment volume.
Google plans to release technical details “In the coming months” We are working towards full-scale development with CME and other partners.
The big question is whether institutions will accept Google’s claims of neutrality, or whether reliance on high-tech giants will simply replace one form of centralization with another form.
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Key takeout
Google Blockchain is here and is trying to dominate the market. Rich Widmann, head of Google’s Web3 strategy, revealed new details.
If Google can capture even a portion of Web3, it’s a 4t market that they can play. Maybe that’s when you load it into the stock of the alphabet?
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