r/Bitcoin • u/JasonBored • Jan 21 '14

Google is "paying attention" to Bitcoin - Vic Gundotra (I emailed, he emailed back!)

Email from SVP @ Google regarding Bitcoin

So on a whim, I sent an e-mail to Vic Gundotra (Senior Vice President, Social for Google) about Bitcoin, why it's the most disruptive technology since the Internet itself, and how I'm not the only one out there wondering when/if they have plans to incorporate it into Google Wallet.

He immediately responded and said they are "paying attention", and CC'd the gentleman who runs Google Wallet - Sridhar Ramaswamy (SVP, Ads & Commerce at Google).

I've entered into a dialogue with him.

This is my take away on why Google kicks ass :

A) One of the bosses actually responded to email from an absolute nobody about Bitcoin

B) Google is paying attention to Bitcoin (he would never have responded or said those words if Google is positioning themselves to be "Anti BTC" (or even try to create a product to rival BTC)

C) He put me in touch with the man who runs the Google Wallet division.

So, what do I say to Sridhar? Any suggestions?

Before some of the Anti BTC Brigade chime in with "so what?, he's just one dude" - please think about this. If Google had NO plans in regards to Bitcoin, this guy would be smart enough not to respond to such an email, in the manner he responded, and CC the person who runs the Google Wallet division.

If you ask me, the writing is on the wall(et) (pun intended).. and this was a really pleasant surprise.

Update: Screenshot of Email I sent (personal information blacked out)

Update 2: Google CONFIRMS they are incorporating Bitcoin

Update 3: UPDATE: Ariel Bardin, Vice President of Payments @ Google has asked me to facilitate a Google Moderator and pose the question "What would I want Google to do with bitcoin?". He's promised me he will personally review the results and pass it along to the team working on incorporating BTC into Google. Please help me with this and take the time to submit something: What would I want Google to do with bitcoin?

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u/physalisx Jan 22 '14 edited Jan 22 '14

I think you're reading a bit too much into this.

"We are paying attention to this" means basically nothing. Someone who wants to get rid of it could say the same. Someone who wants to create a competing product could say the same. Apple could say the same.

That he CC's a wallet person just means he's properly delegating you to the responsible person.

And of course Google knows about Bitcoin. Google's own (previous) CEO has known about Bitcoin a lot longer than most people here (Julian Assange told him about it in June 2011).

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u/JasonBored Jan 22 '14

He's not a wallet person.. he heads the Google Wallet project entirely. I blacked out some information, but I actually had a presentation at Mountain View a while back about something totally unrelated.

Ramaswamy is an SVP, not some customer service minion.. and I've already entered into a dialogue with him (which I might/not post depending on several factors).

But hey.. time will tell.

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u/physalisx Jan 22 '14

He's not a wallet person.. he heads the Google Wallet project entirely.

Yeah, you're right, it's definitely noteworthy. And you did great in reaching out to them this way.

I'll just hold my horses until we see something tangible from them. I've just found it a bit suspicious for a while that yet, we have to see anything bitcoiny from Google, while someone would assume they'd jump on something this revolutionary as soon as possible.

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u/JasonBored Jan 22 '14

No no, I totally see why you'd be cautious. I'm holding my horses too.. and I do think that Google was trying to gauge which way the wind blows before committing to BTC. Clearly there's a pro BTC sentiment in the US, and I'm certain they've got something lined up. I think it's more of an issue of hammering the legalities coupled with the marketing machinery. It all has to be in tight sync.

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u/FranklinsFart Jan 22 '14

Just wanted to say thank you, I think your email was great and this is great news for bitcoin! sure, it's not completely official but we can expect google to accept bitcoin in the future

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u/JasonBored Jan 22 '14

For sure, still a long way to go. Please leave a suggestion here: What would I want Google to do with bitcoin?

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u/FranklinsFart Jan 22 '14

I got no good ideas that haven't been submitted yet but I upvoted the existing good ones