Google mocks cryptocurrency as ‘not real’ in Call Screen ad

Google thinks your crypto is a joke.  

The search and advertising giant released a new tool on Tuesday known as Call Screen, which helps Pixel owners screen unwanted calls. In a seemingly out of place move, the company used the product’s announcement as an opportunity to dunk on cryptocurrency. 

To promote the feature, Google released a short video starring The Daily Show’s Dulcé Sloan and Ronny Chieng. Meant to demo Call Screen in action, the minute-long ad depicts the two comedians — dressed as Google employees — screening calls from a scammer and the power company. 

“Cryptocurrency? That money’s not real.”

It’s the latter of these two scenarios that caught our attention. 

“It’s the electric company,” Sloan explains to Chieng while reading a transcription of a phone call provided by Call Screen. “They said your bill is super high.”

Chieng replies, noting that “cryptocurrency mining takes a lot of energy.”

Here’s where it gets good. 

Sloan, oozing derision, responds to Chieng with a statement seemingly designed to break the hearts of bitcoin maximalists everywhere: “Cryptocurrency? That money’s not real.”

Chieng attempts to diffuse the situation by claiming that “money isn’t real,” but it doesn’t go over well with Sloan. 

“You gonna live that lie?” she asks, pointedly.

And yeah, of course this is all a joke meant to promote Call Screen. But hey, that’s kinda the point, isn’t it? Because in Google’s eyes, cryptocurrency is nothing more than a punchline.