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Google Says It Has "No Current Plans Regarding Bitcoin"

Posted by samzenpus on from the forget-the-coins dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A popular Reddit submission today suggested Google's payment team was looking to incorporate Bitcoin, naturally sparking a lot of excitement in the virtual currency community. TNW reached out to Google regarding the claim and learned that it was indeed false. 'As we continue to work on Google Wallet, we're grateful for a very wide range of suggestions,' a Google spokesperson told TNW. 'While we're keen to actively engage with Wallet users to help inform and shape the product, there's no change to our position: we have no current plans regarding Bitcoin.'"

3 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. It's called Gcoin now. by RevWaldo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Try to keep up.

    .

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    Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
    1. Re:It's called Gcoin now. by QilessQi · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You know, if a company like Amazon or Google -- with their immense server farms for mining -- did come up with its own cryptocoin, it could tilt the masses towards accepting the idea of cryptocurrencies, while simultaneously taking a huge bite out of Bitcoin's future potential.

      Imagine an Amazoncoin, AZC, providing everything that BTC provides plus...
      - convenient support for payment to Amazon.com or transactions throughout the web
      - theft-insurance-backed online wallets for people who are unwilling to manage wallets on their own
      - nice incentives for mining companies willing to partner with them to support AZC transactions in the early days.

      --
      Koans and fables for the software engineer
  2. Transaction system not a monetary system by perpenso · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here lately, more mainstream companies are coming out in favor of accepting it. Casinos in Vegas was the last one I recall... maybe this thing has legs. Can it be that our fiat monetary systems are so flawed that this is a reasonable alternative for some folks?

    The casino and various other companies are accepting bitcoins as payment but they do not hold any bitcoins. For the casino your bill is computed in $US, they compute the current bitcoin equivalent when you are ready to pay, accept payment and immediately have the bitcoins converted to $US. The casino avoids the bank/credit card transaction fees and surcharges. The bitcoin payment processor used has no transaction fees, just a flat monthly fee.

    It seems that bitcoins are more of a replacement for credit cards, in other words a transaction system rather than a replacement monetary system.