Google has taken another step forward in embracing bitcoin. The search engine has integrated a way that allows you to directly read the balances of bitcoin addresses.
If you now type an address into the search bar, you can read at a glance how much bitcoin is on it. Previously you had to do this via block explorers such as mempool.space or blockchain.com, or your own bitcoin node.
Google has now integrated this data directly into its search engine. It doesn’t seem to be completely re-produceable in the Netherlands yet. But there are screenshots going around that confirm the news. It also shows when money was last sent to the address.
So, for example, if you search for “bc1qgdjqv0av3q56jvd82tkdjpy7gdp9ut8tlqmgrpmv24sq90ecnvqqjwvw97”, you will immediately see that this is an address with more than 180,000 BTC. Nice detail: this is the second most valuable address in existence. It belongs to Bitfinex: it is their cold wallet.
In addition to the integration of this bitcoin data, Google has also added a cryptocurrency domain; consider the integration of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). This expansion aims to improve visibility and accessibility for crypto users, especially those involved in Ethereum transactions.
Twitter previously did something similar: if you searched for bitcoin in the app, a widget automatically appeared with the price and a button to purchase bitcoin via Robinhood. It is not known how Google reads the newly displayed data, and whether it uses a third party for this or perhaps runs its own node.
Source: https://bitcoinmagazine.nl/nieuws/google-laat-balans-van-een-bitcoinadres-zien-in-zoekmachine
