Google Cloud bets on EOS blockchain, venturing further into crypto

Google Cloud recently became a network block producer by joining the EOS blockchain community.

While Google Cloud must still be elected to become one of the 21 active EOS block producers, Allen Day, developer advocate at Google Cloud, told Cointelegraph that Google is broadly interested in open-source protocols and distributed ledger technology, or DLT:."We're seeing active enterprise participation in these sorts of networks, and believe Google Cloud can reduce the friction for companies to run their own Google Cloud-hosted nodes on the network. We're also providing cloud infrastructure to Block.one as well, helping them host their own development efforts."

Earlier this year, Google Cloud also joined Hedera Hashgraph's governing council, enabling Google Cloud to operate a Hedera network node.

According to Day, Hedera ledger data is now available for analytics alongside Google Cloud Platform's other public distributed ledger datasets.

In addition to Google Cloud's support for DLT, Amazon Web Services is listed as a cloud service provider for China's Blockchain-Based Service Network - a government-backed initiative designed to help small- to medium-sized businesses build and deploy blockchain applications.

Specifically, Google Cloud is ramping up its own security measures by participating on blockchain networks.

"We do not assume any trust between services, and use multiple mechanisms to establish and maintain trust. Data stored on our Google infrastructure is automatically encrypted at rest, and communications over the internet to our cloud services are encrypted."

Alistair Rennie, general manager of IBM Blockchain, told Cointelegraph that blockchain and cloud technologies work quite well together, "Blockchain delivers the missing element of trust that cloud technology alone can't provide," he said.

It's important to keep in mind that Google Cloud has yet to be elected in.

"It's really up to Google Cloud and what their plans are for engaging with the EOS Network community. And because voting on EOS is open-ended and continuous, to ensure that the top 21 are always a real-time reflection of the aggregate will of the EOS token-holders, we will be constantly evaluating Google Cloud against our criteria, just as we do with all Block Producer candidates."