Google hosts lecture on cryptocurrencies, blockchain tech

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In a bid to attract fresh talent, a Google hiring campaign is cashing in on the cryptocurrency hype by hosting a talk on virtual currencies and blockchain technology.

According to a report by TheNextWeb, Google is set to host a campus lecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan in Italy on March 8. The lecture, titled “Fundamentals and Some Recent Innovations in Crypto-Currencies,” is rumored to be delivered by a Googler, that is, a full-time employee of the search giant. The event’s website, however, did not disclose who exactly from Google will deliver the lecture.

Google’s corporate culture has been the subject of discussions among aspiring applicants and job seekers in the tech sector, with films such as The Intern featuring caricatures of how Google treats its employees with a range of perks and benefits unique to the company.

The talk’s press materials described how “many crypto-currencies have been in the news lately and most people know they can (be) purchased as an asset or exchanged as currency,”  observing how “less well known is how they really work.”

The description shifted perspective to first-person, saying, “In this talk, I’ll review the basic differences between the most popular ones and highlight some interesting innovations in the space, including scripting, privacy and reducing electricity requirements to protect the environment.” After the lecture, there will be a “description of Google jobs and internships,” as well as an overview of the search giant’s interview and hiring process.

The lecture comes at a particularly interesting phase in Google’s expansion of its web and mobile-based platforms. Recently, Google merged its payments services Google Wallet and Android Pay into Google Pay. Could it be that Google is looking to hire young people interested in crypto and blockchain tech? At the moment, this is only a matter of speculation.

Such a move by a company as hugely influential as Google may be an indication of its interest in building or integrating cryptocurrency protocols into its suite of services. Developers looking into integrating with the search engine company’s rich ecosystem may call a Google API on their own apps and use it for payment functionalities with current platforms in the cryptocurrency space.

Such development work requires technical expertise, especially from young people who may bring fresh perspectives on design, programming, and platform management. According to The New York Times report, that there has been a positive spike in blockchain-related courses being placed in official curriculum in the United States, with Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Duke, MIT, and the University of Maryland already offering graduate-level courses on blockchain and cryptocurrency.