In what apparently is Google’s latest strategic move aimed at the social networking arena, the company Friday took over Jambool - a virtual-currency software firm which has a Solid Gold virtual currency service that competes with Facebook Credits.

Announcing the deal on the Jambool site on August 13, the company’s co-founder’s – CEO Vikas Gupta and Chief Technology Officer Reza Hussein – said: “When the opportunity arose to join forces with Google to execute against this vision, we couldn't pass it up. We are thrilled to bring the Social Gold platform to Google's global users.”

The Solid Gold virtual payment platform – which the co-founders said will be preserved for existing customers - allows application developers to insert payment options into online games and other applications.

Though there has been no official disclosure about the financial terms of the Jambool acquisition by Google, previous reports had mentioned that the deal was estimated to be worth $70 million.

Confirming the deal in a statement to eWEEK, a Google spokesperson said that since the Internet search biggie committed to offering consumers and merchants innovative digital payment solutions, “Jambool will help Google evolve our payments offering and expand into digital goods and content.”

Despite the fact that the spokesperson refrained from mentioning the word “social,” there is little doubt that the Jambool acquisition is yet another piece in Google’s social network puzzle – which already comprise Google’s newly-acquired social widget maker Slide, and the company’s investment in online gaming provider Zynga.