Google has approached the founder of ethereum – the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency – in the hope that he will help the technology giant with a mysterious blockchain project, the Russian-born programmer has revealed.

Vitalik Buterin shared a truncated screenshot of an email from Google recruiter Elizabeth Garcia, appearing to offer him a job.

Mr Buterin shared the email from Ms Garcia, along with a poll asking “should I drop ethereum and work for Google?”

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Before it was taken down, 59 per cent of more than 2,000 people polled on Twitter responded that Mr Buterin should not abandon ethereum.

“Hi Vitalik, I hope you are doing well and enjoying the weekend!” the message from Ms Garcia stated. “[...] Google make sense for you now or in the near future[...]”

Mr Buterin later deleted the poll and tweeted: “Too bad you can’t quote tweet someone and add a poll.”

Neither Google nor Mr Buterin responded immediately to a request for comment, however the tech company has previously revealed that it is interested in blockchain – the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.

“Like many new technologies, we have individuals in various teams exploring potential use of blockchain, but it’s too early for us to speculate about any possible uses or plans,” a spokesperson told Business Insider in March.

Another Silicon Valley giant apparently keen on the technology is Facebook, who revealed earlier this month that it was setting up an exploratory blockchain group that will report directly to the company's CTO, Mike Schroepfer.

"I'm setting up a small group to explore how to best leverage blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch," David Marcus, who previously led the Facebook Messenger team, said in a post on Facebook.

With over 2 billion users worldwide, speculation inevitably led to the possibility that Facebook could develop its own cryptocurrency.