Users may now look up wallet balances on the Fantom, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, Bitcoin, and Avalanche blockchains using Google. The remaining token amount for each network and the most recent update time are displayed in search results when entering in wallet addresses.
This comes after Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain search results for wallet balances were recently added by Google. For Ethereum wallet addresses, ENS offers readable domain names, such as Vitalik Buterin’s vitalik.eth.
Google has been supporting searches for Ethereum wallet balances since May of last year, these updates build on that capability. Google first outlawed advertisements pertaining to bitcoin in 2018.
Because of its enormous daily search volume, Google’s inclusion of Bitcoin data in search results improves public access to on-chain activity. To view the most recent transaction updates and current balances, users can search three different Bitcoin address formats: P2PKH, P2SH, and Bech32.
While some applaud this move toward widespread usage, proponents of Bitcoin who prioritize privacy voice worries about centralized data collection. Despite blockchain data being publicly available, privacy concerns are raised by Google’s indexing of Bitcoin transactions.
In spite of the privacy controversy, many applaud Google for its efforts to raise on-chain literacy. More thorough data indexing may come as usage increases, closing the gap even more for people looking to explore blockchain data.
