Prime Highlights
- Google has officially announced its Universal Ledger (GCUL), a layer-1 blockchain designed to support wholesale payments and digital asset tokenization.
- By introducing Python-based smart contracts, the project aims to make blockchain adoption easier for businesses, finance, and AI developers.
Key Facts
- The announcement was made by Rich Widmann, Google Cloud’s head of Web3 strategy, following earlier collaboration with CME Group on testing and integration.
- GCUL is positioned as a “performant, credibly neutral” blockchain, intended for financial institutions and large-scale adoption.
Background
Google has confirmed that its long-rumored blockchain project, the Universal Ledger, will operate as a layer-1 (L1) blockchain, putting the tech giant in direct competition with Stripe and Circle, which are also building their own networks.
The information was announced on LinkedIn this week by Rich Widmann, the head of Web3 strategy of Google Cloud, who described the project as being differentiated compared to existing chains. The disclosure comes five months after Google partnered with CME Group, which announced in March that it had finished the first stage of integration and testing.
Unlike layer-2 chains that rely on existing blockchains, a layer-1 blockchain functions as a foundational network, handling its own transactions and security. Google developed its version, which is known as the Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL), which is meant to help support the wholesale payments and tokenization of digital assets.
The use of Python as the language of smart contracts is one of the most visible and obvious aspects of the project and is not the industry standard, such as Solidity (Ethereum) or Rust (Solana, Aptos, Sui). According to experts, Python will simplify the process of blockchain adoption for businesses and data mining, finance, and AI developers who are already using the language. But critics caution that it can alienate developers unless Google offers powerful support and interoperability capabilities.
Google is presenting its blockchain as a “performant, credibly neutral” system, open for use by financial institutions. Industry observers remain divided on this claim. “The challenge is whether institutions will trust Google to remain neutral in the long run,” said Aharon Miller, co-founder of payments platform Oobit.
Others claim that Google has too much interest in payments, cloud, and advertising that which poses a conflict of interest and makes it impossible to be a true neutral. Stripe is in the meantime customizing its blockchain to payment firms, and Circle is concentrating on richness in financial infrastructure.
While the three projects are not identical, analysts say they are shaping the future of institutional blockchain infrastructure, each taking a different path to win trust and adoption.
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