Through its parent company Alphabet, Google has injected colossal sums into the cryptocurrency sector. Despite the market crash, the Mountain View giant has multiplied investments in several start-ups. Same story on the side of Samsung.
Blockdata, an analysis company specializing in the world of cryptocurrencies, has just published a report devoted to the 100 largest companies that have invested in blockchain start-ups. To compile this list, Blockdata experts compiled data from the top 100 global banks between September 2021 and June 2022.
At the top of the list is Alphabet, the parent company of giant Google. With a market valuation that exceeds 1,500 billion dollars, the Californian group invested 1.56 billion dollars over the period. Alphabet is emerging as the leading institutional investor in the digital currency industry.
The study points out that 40 of the 100 largest companies in the world have made investments in blockchain companies. 6 billion dollars have been invested in less than a year.
On the same topic: Why the cryptocurrency crash is also good news
The cryptocurrency crash and Alphabet’s investments
These massive investments were made as the price of cryptocurrencies gradually collapsed. Since the beginning of the year, the value of bitcoin was halved. The queen of cryptocurrencies now oscillates between 20,000 and 25,000 dollars, auguring a long bearish phase. As always, Bitcoin dragged other tokens down. For example, Ether stabilized below $2000. Also note that the debacle of several major projects, such as Luna’s UST, has not dampened Alphabet’s enthusiasm.
The Californian giant has concentrated its investments in four companies in the ecosystem. Alphabet injected money into Fireblocksa cryptocurrency storage and security service, Dapper Labsa developer of services on the blockchain, Voltagea firm specializing in Bitcoin payments, and Digital Currency Groupa venture capital firm focused on digital assets.
Google, and by extension Alphabet, is increasingly openly displaying its growing interest in the cryptocurrency sector. At the beginning of the year, the search giant set up a new team within Google Cloud. This division is responsible for developing cryptocurrency payment systems, in particular through credit cards. To spearhead the project, Google hired Arnold Goldberg, a former PayPal executive. The firm also enlisted the help of Dapper Labs, one of the companies it invested in last year. Dapper Labs is the company developing the FLOW blockchain, designed for issuing non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In parallel, Google joined the board of directors of the Hedera Hashgraph cryptocurrency, alongside renowned groups such as Ubisoft and IBM.
Like Google, Samsung bets on cryptocurrencies
In second place, we find Blackrockthe asset management giant, and investment bank Morgan Stanley. The fourth largest investor spotted by BlockData is none other than Samsung, the world number 1 in mobile telephony. The South Korean company invested $979 million between September 2021 and June 2022.
Samsung cast a wide net by providing liquidity to 13 blockchain companies. Among them is the latest initiative from Adam Neumann, co-founder and former CEO of WeWork, Flow Carbon. The company plans to develop a carbon credit trading platform on the blockchain.
“ Samsung is placing its bets in the blockchain ecosystem by investing in companies focused on 15 different use cases, such as blockchain services, developer platforms, NFTs and social media. On the other hand, Alphabet has a completely different strategy by making concentrated bets on a smaller set of companies. “Says Blockdata.
Mirroring Google, the Seoul giant has never hidden its ambitions in the field of digital assets. In recent years, Samsung has integrated a digital wallet to store crypto-assets on smartphones and added support for NFTs on its smart TVs. Among the main investors in the report, there are also big names such as PayPal, Microsoft, Tencent and LG.
Source :
BlockData