Google and a number of other leading tech firms including Samsung have invested more than $1 billion into cryptocurrency and blockchain businesses over the last year.
This is according to a new report from Blockdata, a blockchain market intelligence specialist. Its researchers found that Google parent company Alphabet has spent $1.5 billion investing in crypto startups since September 2021. The lucky recipients of the funding included:
- Fireblocks – a digital asset custody platform
- Digital Currency Group – a venture capital company
- Dapper Labs – a Web3 gaming firm
- Voltage – a Bitcoin infrastructure tool.
This investment approach – where Google is focusing on just four key companies – is quite different to the year before. Previously, the search giant spent much less and diversified its investments across a larger number of companies. In 2021, it invested just $601 million across 17 blockchain-focused firms.
South Korean tech company Samsung also invested significant sums into crypto and blockchain over the last 12 months. It spread around $1 billion in investments around more than a dozen blockchain specialists. These included Atomic Form, Metrika, Big Whale Labs, Saga, Flowcarbon, Yuga Labs, Aleo and Ramper.
Total crypto investment rockets to $6 billion in 2022
Google’s boosted investment in the crypto space is in line with broader industry trends. The Blockdata report found that a total of $6 billion was invested in cryptocurrency and blockchain firms over the last year. This is a huge increase compared to the $1.9 billion invested between Jan and Sep 2021, and just $506 million throughout the whole of 2020.
Alongside tech firms, finance giants such as Morgan Stanley, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs also topped the list of big-spending crypto investors in 2022.
Morgan Stanley invested over $2 billion in numerous funding rounds, in companies such as Figment and NYDIG. BlackRock spent a similar sum on Circle, FTX and Anchorage Digital, while Goldman Sachs invested nearly $700 million in Coin Metrics, CertiK Blockchain Security Leaderboard, Elwood and Blockdaemon Inc.
Further down the list of most active investors were PayPal, Microsoft, Citi, Wells Fargo, LG and American Express.
According to the Blockdata report:
“Banks have started to increase their exposure to crypto and blockchain services given increased client demand.
“This has led them to make investments in crypto custody, asset management, and trading. As for traditional corporations (Samsung, Microsoft, etc), they are already supportive of the blockchain landscape, as indicated by the funding trend over the years.”
“Now, it is a matter of finding innovative companies and portfolios that add value to their core business growth and consolidation.”
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