Key takeaways:
- The announcement of Square’s rebranding to Block comes two days after Jack Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO
- The new name will serve as an umbrella for different businesses owned by digital payment company Square
- Square owns more than 8,000 BTC, which is the fifth-largest stash of BTC owned by any public company
Square, one of the more popular digital payment services, will be changing its name to Block. The announcement came only two days after Jack Dorsey announced his resignation as Twitter CEO, which led many to believe Dorsey will get more heavily involved with crypto going forward.
The new name will tie together Square, Cash App, music streaming service Tidal, and Bitcoin-focused DEX project tbDEX
According to Wednesday’s Twitter post from payment firm Square, the new name will bring several of Square’s core businesses under the same branding umbrella. The Cash App digital payment application, music streaming platform Tidal, and a Bitcoin-focused DEX and fiat-to-crypto bridge tbDEX will be tied together under “Block.” The rebranding is reportedly coming into effect on December 10.
Dorsey, the majority owner of Square and its CEO, a staunch proponent of blockchain technology and a self-proclaimed Bitcoin maximalist, explained what the new name means for the company:
“Block is a new name, but our purpose of economic empowerment remains the same. No matter how we grow or change, we will continue to build tools to help increase access to the economy.”
The Square’s upcoming name change is reminiscent of Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, which showed the social media giant’s commitment to Metaverse development and a potential shift away from traditional social media services.
Under Dorsey’s leadership, Square and Twitter have been bringing cryptocurrency to the masses over the years. Square, for instance, added support for buying and selling Bitcoin in January 2018. The decision proved to be a lucrative one for Cash App – the app’s BTC profits doubled year-over-year in the second quarter of 2021 and drove a whopping $2.7 billion in gross revenue.
According to data from Bitcoin Treasuries, Square is currently in possession of 8,027 BTC (worth over $454 million at current market rates), the fifth-largest stash of BTC owned by any public company. Microstrategy and eclectic car manufacturer Tesla lead the charts with 121,044 BTC and 42,902 BTC, respectively.
In September, the social media giant Twitter added Bitcoin to the list of supported payments methods for its Tip Jar feature. The BTC tipping functionality is facilitated through the Lightning Network, a Layer 2 scaling solution built atop the Bitcoin network that lets users send BTC to each other much more efficiently than via Bitcoin’s Layer 1.
While many believed that Twitter would follow in the footsteps of Square and invest a decent portion of its capital in crypto assets, the company’s CFO, Ned Segal, denied the possibility of Twitter adding digital currency to its balance sheet. After Wall Street Journal reported Segal’s comments on November 15, the market responded with turmoil, which led to the total crypto market cap shrinking by 10% in a single trading day.
