Google Launches New blockchain for Banks to Settle Payments

GCUL is built for banks, but liquidity stays with Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC)

Google's pitch?

Replace USDT and USDC with “neutral” stablecoin rails for regulated institutions.

Google doesn't understand how stablecoins work.

I explain why Tether & Circle will win against Google. 👇

Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL) is “credibly neutral” Layer 1 blockchain for regulated institutions.

Google's argument?

Tether won’t use Circle’s blockchain.
Circle won’t use Tether’s.
Banks won’t use either.

Google offers the neutral ground.

Sounds clever - until you look at actual usage.

I explain reality.

No one will use Tether or Circle’s own chains.

Most stablecoin volume runs on Tron.

Why?

- Fast finality
- Cheapest fees
- Deep exchange integrations
- 24/7 uptime for market makers

This isn’t retail flow.

98% of the $260billion+ stablecoin market is USD-denominated.

It’s not used for coffee.

It’s used by professional traders:

- Prop shops
- Market makers
- Crypto hedge funds
- Arbitrage bots

They don’t care about branding.
They care about latency, liquidity, and cost.

Will banks use GCUL instead? Not likely.

Here’s what Google misses:

Banks don’t want to issue stablecoins.

Stablecoins destroys their business model - real-time settlement kills multi-day fee chains.

Banks will issue tokenized deposits, not stablecoins.

These are IOUs backed by the bank’s own balance sheet, not treasuries.

They’re closed-loop products built for internal use - not liquidity rails.

Banks won’t embrace network effects.

Tether and Circle won because they deployed everywhere.

Tron, Ethereum, Solana, exchanges, wallets - liquidity became borderless.

Banks will never do this.

They want control, not interoperability.

GCUL is a private, permissioned system.

It’s not a decentralized L1.
It’s a backend upgrade for siloed banking workflows.

Not a liquidity layer for global crypto.

As Aharon Miller, COO of Oobit said:

”Google already runs half of the internet's infrastructure, but the real test is whether institutions believe they'll stay neutral in the long term”.

Real race is different.

By 2030, dollar stablecoins will hit $1 trillion.

99% of stablecoin flow will still come from institutional trading.

Not retail payments.
Not consumer apps.

Who wins?

- Players with deep exchange liquidity
- Chains that serve prop firms, not banks
- Issuers that embrace open infrastructure
- Teams that optimize for cost, uptime, and speed

That’s why Tether on Tron still dominates.

That's why Circle is playing the long game with USDC + regulatory alignment.

Google’s play will serve banks.

But it won’t win stablecoin flows.

Because this market was never about payments.

It was always about liquidity.

I’ve built exchanges.
I’ve built market makers.
I’ve raised capital in this space for a decade.

I’m bullish on USDC.
I’m bullish on USDT.
I’m bullish on institutional stablecoin rails.

I’m not buying the GCUL hype.

Can Google compete with Tether & Circle?

Let me know what you think. 👇