Decoding Google's New Moves: Stablecoins, New Google Play Policies, and Acquiring Stake in Bitcoin Mining Companies. (Background: OpenAI's Sam Altman: I'm Interested in Acquiring Google Chrome! Competing for Market Share of the Largest Browser) (Supplementary Background: Is the Imitation Season Really Here? Google Search for 'Altcoin' Hits a 7-Year High, Primarily Driven by African Countries) Google, this global tech giant, is accelerating its strategic layout in the fields of Crypto and AI computing. Recently, a series of its actions have drawn widespread attention: acquiring an 8% stake in Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf through its AI cloud platform Fluidstack, adjusting policies related to cryptocurrency exchanges and software wallets in the Google Play Store, and engaging in preliminary discussions with several cryptocurrency companies regarding stablecoin integration—these actions highlight Google's deep involvement in AI computing and cryptocurrency. How did Google acquire an 8% stake in Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf? TeraWulf Inc. (NASDAQ Code: WULF), as a vertically integrated zero-carbon digital infrastructure operator, has primarily focused on Bitcoin mining in recent years, recently expanding into high-performance computing. TeraWulf indicated in its Q2 financial report that the company mined 485 Bitcoin at the Lake Mariner facility, generating $47.6 million in revenue, a 33.7% increase compared to $35.6 million in revenue in Q2 2024, with the cost of revenue rising from 39.1% in Q2 2024 to 46.4%. However, due to increased investments in high-performance computing and mining costs, TeraWulf's net loss widened to approximately $79.79 million in the first half of the year. As of June 30, 2025, the company held $90 million in cash, cash equivalents, and Bitcoin, in addition to approximately $500 million in outstanding debt. This time, TeraWulf and AI cloud platform Fluidstack reached two 10-year high-performance computing hosting agreements, planning to provide over 200 megawatts of critical IT load at its data center campus located in western New York (equivalent to a total capacity of approximately 250 megawatts). This data center is specifically built for liquid-cooled AI workloads, aiming to meet the scale, density, and resilience required for next-generation computing. From a financial perspective, TeraWulf stated that the agreement represents approximately $3.7 billion in contract revenue during the initial 10-year term and includes two five-year extension options, which, if exercised, would bring total contract revenue to about $8.7 billion. The estimated net operating income (NOI) profit margin for the site is 85%, generating about $315 million in revenue annually. Google plays a key role in this collaboration: not only providing guarantees for $1.8 billion in lease obligations to support project debt financing but also acquiring warrants to purchase approximately 41 million shares of TeraWulf common stock, corresponding to an equity stake of about 8%, thus becoming an important shareholder of TeraWulf. Following the announcement of the transaction, TeraWulf's stock price surged 50%, rising from a previous closing price of $5.46 to approximately $8.70, reflecting the market's optimistic expectations for the deal. TeraWulf's CEO Paul Prager stated that TeraWulf is partnering with world-class capital and computing partners to provide next-generation AI infrastructure driven by low-cost, zero-carbon energy, and this transaction has accelerated TeraWulf's strategic expansion into the high-performance computing sector. From an industry perspective, many Bitcoin mining companies are diversifying and shifting towards AI data centers (some Bitcoin mining companies are also shifting towards Ethereum strategies). The core logic of this transformation lies in the fact that AI training and inference require vast computational resources, and the existing infrastructure, such as GPU clusters in mining, is highly compatible with this need. Fluidstack, as a GPU provider for AI labs (such as Mistral AI and Black Forest Labs), further enhances the value of the transaction. For Google, the core driving force behind its involvement comes from the explosive growth in AI computing demands: it urgently needs reliable and sustainable computing infrastructure, and the Lake Mariner campus, equipped with dual 345 kV transmission lines, closed-loop water cooling systems, and low-latency fiber connections, makes it an ideal choice. Google Play Adjusts New Crypto Policies The Google Play Store, as the core distribution platform for the Android system, directly influences hundreds of millions of users. According to the new regulations, developers of cryptocurrency exchanges and software wallet applications must obtain local government permissions and comply with local laws and industry standards when releasing services in specific regions, applicable to countries/regions including Bahrain, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, the UK, the US, and some EU countries. This policy will officially take effect on October 29, 2025. Specific requirements differ across regions, for example: Hong Kong: Cryptocurrency exchanges must obtain a Type 1 (Securities Trading) and Type 7 (Providing Automated Trading Services) licenses issued by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), while software wallets do not have this requirement; the US: Exchange and software wallet developers must register as money service businesses with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and also register as payment institutions in certain states, or as federally/state-chartered bank entities; the UK: Exchange and software wallet developers must register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. This update aims to strengthen regulatory compliance but has sparked widespread discussion in the industry. Subsequently, Google officially responded, stating that non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets are not restricted by the platform's new policies. Rich Widmann, head of Google Cloud's Web3 strategy, also confirmed that this policy does not cover non-custodial wallets, and that the use of the term 'software wallet' was not sufficiently accurate, causing confusion. Rich Widmann also mentioned, 'It's no longer 2015; we are working with dozens of dev shops and protocols to build this ecosystem.' For Crypto developers, this policy increases compliance costs. On the other hand, the exemption for non-custodial wallets is seen as a positive signal encouraging DeFi innovation. In fact, Google Play has previously implemented policies regarding transparency requirements for mining and distributing tokenized digital assets, as well as NFT gamification mechanisms. For example: No application is allowed to conduct cryptocurrency mining on devices, but applications can manage remote cryptocurrency mining operations. If an application sells tokenized digital assets or enables users to earn such assets, it must declare this situation through the 'Financial Function' declaration form on the 'App Content' page of the Play Management Center. Applications must not promote or embellish any earnings potentially earned through gaming or trading activities.

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