Crypto Insider has recently covered speculations on the possibility that Facebook could be preparing to launch its own cryptocurrency to facilitate in-app payments and transfers, and related rumors. Now it appears that Google could jump on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson and IOHK Director of Engineering Duncan Coutts were invited by Google to talk about Cardano and the future of cryptocurrencies.

"As you might expect from a company that has laid much of the ground for today’s technological landscape, Googlers asked some of the most incisive and informed questions Charles has had on his speaking tour this year," reads an IOHK news release.

Hoskinson, an early founder of Ethereum, eventually left Ethereum and founded IOHK with Jeremy Wood in 2014. Cardano is an open source, decentralized public blockchain and cryptocurrency project maintained by IOHK and the Cardano Foundation. The Cardano blockchain, built from scratch in the functional programming language Haskell, uses Ouroboros, a provably-secure proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. ADA the platform’s native cryptocurrency, is traded on cryptocurrency exchanges.

At Google, Hoskinson explained curernt and planned developments of Cardano. In July, a test network will be opened to developers to play with smart contracts, and full decentralization of the network is expected later this year. The IOHK news release has a full transcript of the Q/A session at Google, and some of the questions asked by Google's staff are especially interesting. Related: Banks Team Up To Rival Fintech Giant

Google is evidently interested in Cardano's potential to displace Ethereum and become the leading platform for smart contracts, the robustness, scalability, sustainability and throughput of the platform, the availability of skilled developers, and other strategic and operational topics that give plausibility to the idea that the internet giant could be considering collaborating with IOHK and adopting Cardano for its own projects.

But of course Google wouldn't make a similar decision without reviewing and evaluating all that is happening in the blockchain space. Google asked what could be the next big thing in the crypto space, outside of Cardano's own roadmap, mentioning Hashgraph as a possible example.

The transcript shows that Hoskinson and Coutts have given a lot of valuable information to Google, and it will be interesting to watch Google's next moves into the crypto space.

But it's also worth bearing in mind that Google has changed from the "Don't be evil" small company it was in the 90s. Now Google, like Facebook, is a powerful internet giant with real power. The internet giants often work hand in hand with the government, and we should never forget that it is in the intrinsic nature of power to inevitably seek to acquire even more power. Whatever blockchain technology Google and Facebook might adopt, their approach will be VERY different from the privacy-oriented techno-libertarian approach of Bitcoin and Ethereum founders.

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"We have another question on privacy," asked Google. "Are there any plans to implement private transactions in the style of Monero or Zcash?" Yes, Hoskinson, adding that he is well aware that governments have a problem with privacy.

"For example, Japan just announced that they’re probably going to de-list all the privacy coins," said Hoskinson. "So if we wish to be in the Japanese markets and we were to embrace Monero-style privacy, there’s a very low probability that Japanese exchanges will list Ada, which is a high priority for us."