Google plans to accept BCH, but?

The announcement by Google on Tuesday that it will soon begin accepting Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and other major Cryptocurrency for its Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is likely a ploy to up the ante in the highly competitive cloud market. The search giant had announced at its Google’s Cloud Next conference that it will begin to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin cash (BCH), Tether (USDT), and other cryptos for payment for cloud storage and other services early 2023, but the news isn't anything to be bullish about.

Although the news may seem like a good development for the adoption of cryptocurrency and BCH in particular, it doesn't look like acceptance in the truest sense. It only represents a gateway for payment and a means for Google to attract more crypto users to its cloud platform, while at the end of the rope more BCH is being liquidated to fiat.

There is a difference between using a currency and accepting it as payment for services. If the receiver isn't willing to hold the currency or use it as payment for services likewise, then accepting it as payment can create some issues for that currency, since the more people use the currency as payment, the more of it is converted to the currency the receiver uses. That's exactly what the Google announcement to accept BCH for payment represents, just a gateway and another gateway for as yet another crypto to be liquidated, BTC.

It's not much different from what is being done by PayPal, which accepted Bitcoin as payment through its portal. But acceptance in terms of acceptance for use as payment is much different than accepting the currency itself. If Google began to accept bitcoins as payment for cloud services, not only would there be a significant number of people who will be willing to utilize the cloud services, but Google would become one of the major cryptocurrencies traders and as a result of that position, the price of the cryptocurrency would probably take a nosedive.

The benefits only go to Google and not to crypto holders who want to see the adoption of this new form of money in the real world. It's not going to help BTC which is already on the decline. The price of BCH has been struggling to stay afloat for nearly a year now, and this Google plan to accept it for payment may bring more harm than good to the declining crypto in general.

All in all, the news is only a backdoor for Google to harvest more BCH and BTC in the process. So, even if Google starts accepting BCH and other major cryptos for payment for its services, the real gain to crypto holders will not be much. It's like inviting a thief to your house and giving him an invitation to break and enter, but keeping the loot for yourself. Google will be the one holding the loot in this case.

Moreover, the planned acceptance of cryptocurrency by Google will be routed through a third-party channel namely Coinbase. Coinbase will provide a tool for Google to receive payment in BCH or BTC and convert it to the fiat currency through the same medium that they were received. This doesn't make the Google announcement that much different from what we have heard in the past.

Since the news of Google's plan is only a plan and a means to entice crypto holders and traders to its services, the actual benefit that it can give to the crypto holders will not be much. The best outcome that you can hope for will be a small bump in value for the majority of coins.

The value of the coin only will be more devalued when other major players such as Amazon and Microsoft join the party. The only way that this plan to accept BCH may bring benefits to all is if Google decides to make the coin its currency of use for payment. With that said, it's still too early to tell for sure.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of any known entity.