Square is now called “Block” – this is intended to refer to the company’s blockchain technology
Square posted on Twitter on Nov. 1 that the change would bring five related projects under the Block umbrella. These include the company itself, the Bitcoin-focused decentralized exchange (DEX) TBD, the music and video streaming platform Tidal, and Square-Crypto. Square-Crypto was the branch of Square specializing in cryptocurrencies. According to an accompanying press release, Square-Crypto will be renamed Spiral as part of the reorganization as it joins the block ecosystem.
“Block refers to the neighborhood blocks where we find our salespeople, a blockchain, block parties full of music, obstacles to overcome, a section of code, building blocks and, of course, tungsten cubes,” according to Square’s press release.
“We have been working towards this change for over a year, and it is a change in our company name, not a change in our purpose, vision, structure or the way we work.”
Square becomes block
Just two days ago, Square CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter. The previous CTO Parag Agrawal took over the post. Dorsey justified his resignation by saying that he wanted to give his successor space to act without his – Dorseys – influence on the social media giant.
Dorsey’s resignation sparked speculation that with Square he would focus more on crypto and blockchain. However, his efforts will tend to focus on Bitcoin. Dorsey has never made a secret of the fact that Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency of choice for him. At one point he even expressed his willingness to leave Square or Twitter if Bitcoin “needs more help”.
“Block is a new name, but our goal of economic empowerment remains the same,” said Dorsey of the name change. “Regardless of how we grow or change, we will continue to develop tools to improve access to the economy.”
According to Square, the name change will become legally effective “on or around December 10th”. There will be no organizational changes in any of the five projects.
Short history and great success
The company , based in San Francisco, was co-founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey in 2009. Since going public in November 2015, Square has quickly risen to become one of the largest payment service providers in the United States. In addition, the company has expanded its business model to include business analysis, employee management and scheduling. Further offers are the peer-to-peer payment service Cash App as well as software and point-of-sale hardware for companies of various sizes.
Square was involved in the development of the Bitcoin-focused DEX TBD. In June, Dorsey also mentioned the company’s plans to develop a hardware wallet for Bitcoin.