Google Pay Hires PayPal Exec to Head Up Crypto Payments Push

Google has hired a former PayPal executive to help strengthen Google Pay, which has ambitions to expand into the cryptocurrency market.

As part of a company-wide push into financial services, including cryptocurrency, Arnold Goldberg has been appointed to lead Google’s payments branch.

Bill Ready, Google’s VP of commerce, told Bloomberg:

“We pay a lot of attention to cryptocurrency […] We adapt along with user and merchant demand.”

Google Pay is a mobile payment system created by Google that allows users to make in-app, internet, and contactless transactions on Android phones, tablets, and watches.

Following the announcement, Bitcoin’s price soared to $42,478, up from a 24-hour low of $41,254, before settling at $41,887 at the time of writing.