Google is expanding its online currency conversion calculator to include bitcoin, a move that comes after Google and Coinbase linked up to offer a bitcoin price tracker.
The move follows much optimism and growth surrounding bitcoin, but with the recent online currencies finding themselves at the center of controversy, many wonder why go forward with this project now on the heels of much public frustration and worry over using online currency.
Google has confirmed news reports about the new service, saying it will function on the Google search smartphone app as well as online. Users will able to track the currency's history, ask questions in a search box and retrieve answers almost simultaneously.
For example, if you ask, "How many bitcoins are in $500 USD?" the answer will then pop up at the top of the search form.
A number of analysts have pointed to this as progress for online currency, where bitcoin is now receiving equal treatment to other currencies in the nonvirtual world. Bitcoin now even has its own acronym, BTC, which will allow users to simplify their conversions, much like one does with EUR for euro and USD for United States dollar.
The only apparent disadvantage is that Google says the real-time price may not be reflected at any given search.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that allows transactions to take place without a central bank. Its value has increased a lot since its start in 2008 -- last year one bitcoin rose in value from $13 to more than $1,100. It's value dropped, however, when the bitcoin exchange company Mt. Gox in Japan closed its exchange service and filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. One bitcoin is now valued at $625.06.
Bitcoin is getting backing as a number of top retailers announced they would accept BTC as a form of payment. These included Overstock.com and Tigerdirect.com. Internet companies WordPress, Etsy, Reddit, Zynga, PayPal, eBay and OkCupid also accept bitcoin. Even Virgin Galactic is accepting bitcoin for people that want to travel to outer space.
"You can also ask Google to do conversions -- if you have the Google Search app on your smartphone, for example, ask it, 'How many bitcoin are in 500 U.S. dollars?' and you'll get the answer in a handy conversion tool," a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The conversion tool does, however, arrive a bit belated, after both Bing and Yahoo put BTC on their system for conversions earlier this year, making many wonder if Google even needed to add the new service in the first place. If it already existed on two leading search engines, many observers are pointing to the money spent that could have gone to develop more innovative ideas.
Still, others argue Google needed to one-up the competition with a better way of tracking bitcoin in the online world, and by linking with Coinbase, it has achieved this. Coinbase is a digital wallet accepted internationally that lets users buy, use and accept bitcoin.
