Google Cloud has joined the
EOS blockchain community with the intent of becoming a block producer.
This would require approval of the EOS community. EOS, which has often
been criticized for excessive centralization, has 21 block producers in
total. In the company's press release, Google Cloud developer and
advocate, Allen Day, is quoted confirming that his company is starting the process of becoming a block producer:

As
organizations begin to incorporate distributed ledger technology into
their infrastructures, we are committed to ensuring that the information
on public blockchains are securely stored, reliably available, and can
be accessed in meaningful ways.”

In the same document,
Block One's CEO Brendan Blumer purported that EOS is responsible for the
majority of public blockchain activity, though he did not specify the
criteria through which he reached that conclusion:

“With
the majority of global public blockchain activity, EOS is a powerful
solution for anyone looking to leverage the decentralized ecosystem with
ease".

Block One also announced that a former Goldman Sachs executive named R. Martin Chavez will be leading the company's advisory board.

Block
One, the company behind EOS, was originally co-founded by current
independent presidential candidate, Brock Pierce — though the aspiring
politician was removed from the company several years ago. Throughout
his career, Pierce has been embroiled in a number of controversies.