Jack Dorsey’s other company is changing its name just days after he resigned as CEO of Twitter. Square, the digital-payments startup he founded and now leads will now be known as Block.
Individual Block-owned firms, or “building blocks,” as the company calls them, such as Square and music-streaming platform Tidal, keep their original names.
Economic empowerment: Square now Block
Square’s business comprises payment solutions for retailers, such as card readers, as well as banking products.
“We built the Square brand for our seller business, which is where it belongs. Block is a new name but our purpose of economic empowerment remains the same,” Mr Dorsey said in a statement.
“No matter how we grow or change, we will continue to build tools to help increase access to the economy.”
“The change to Block acknowledges the company’s growth,” the company said in a press release. “Since its start in 2009, the company has added Cash App, TIDAL, and TBD54566975 as businesses, and the name change creates room for further growth. Block is an overarching ecosystem of many businesses united by their purpose of economic empowerment, and serves many people—individuals, artists, fans, developers, and sellers.”
Square said, on Twitter: “We’ve been working to make this change for over a year and it only represents a change of our official corporate name – not our purpose, our vision, our structure, or how we operate”.
“Not to get all meta on you… but we’re going to,” the company tweeted in reference to Facebook’s rebrand.
“‘Block’ references the neighbourhood blocks where we find our sellers, a blockchain, block parties full of music, obstacles to overcome, a section of code, building blocks and, of course, tungsten cubes.”
Dorsey’s Immense Support for Cryptocurrency
Many recognize Mr Dorsey’s fascination with cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that underpins them.
He’d recently established a cryptocurrency team at Twitter, with the goal of examining how the firm dealt with digital assets and decentralized apps. Square Crypto, a separate division within Square “dedicated to advancing Bitcoin,” will rebrand to spiral.
Dorsey also co-founded Square in 2009, with an emphasis on in-person payments and the company’s namesake card reader. The reader allows consumers to accept credit card payments using their smartphones.
Square, has since added other features; These include peer-to-peer digital banking software, small business lending, a bank license and the ability to trade cryptocurrency and stocks. The company has acquired Afterpay, a buy-now, pay-later service. Square also acquired Tidal, Jay-music Z’s streaming service. It’s also tripling down on bitcoin via TBD, a cryptocurrency-focused company.
The news comes just two days after Dorsey, a well-known Bitcoin enthusiast, resigned as CEO of Twitter. He has served as the CEO of both Twitter and Square simultaneously since 2015. He however remains the CEO of Block.
The announcement comes about a month after Facebook renamed itself Meta to reflect CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s aim to create a virtual environment, the Metaverse.
Although the company’s Square Crypto effort is being rebranded to Spiral, Block claims there will be no organizational changes as a result of the new moniker. The new Block moniker is set to take effect “on or around” December 10th. “At this moment,” its ticker sign, SQ, will “not change.”