Google sinks $1 billion into CME Group’s Bitcoin futures

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has invested a whopping $1 billion into CME Group, with a clause that CME would shift its core trading system to Google Cloud.

CME was the first platform to launch Bitcoin futures together with CBOE in December 2017. The company is used to seeing trillions of dollars circulate on its platform on a daily basis. The partnership could bring CME closer to potential customers, help it perform operations effortlessly, and innovate trading tools based on Google tech, including AI-based software that monitors market risks.

CME Group's market cap is valued at about $80 billion, making it the most valuable exchange operator at the moment. This honor was recently bestowed on CME after it was let go by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. It trades in multiple markets, including crude oil, gold, and Bitcoin and ETH futures.

Meanwhile, Google Cloud is the fourth-biggest provider of cloud services. It received 6.1% of revenues in the cloud infrastructure around the globe in 2020, according to data from Gartner Inc. At the top of that list is Amazon, with a 40% market share in 2020, followed by Microsoft and Alibaba Group.

The $1 billion invested by Google Cloud was dedicated to CME's non-voting convertible preferred stock.

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian opined that the investment is a demonstration of Google's intention to support not only one company but the transformation of the whole financial system on the planet.

CME is scheduled to shift its infrastructure to Google Cloud come 2022. It will move its core trading systems first, and then its data and clearing services will follow.

Eventually, all CME markets will be transferred to Google Cloud, with the chief of CME Terrence Duffy tagging the alliance with the cloud giant "a marriage made in heaven."

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