Block (formerly Square)

History

2021

Company Name Change to Block

On December 1, 2021, the American financial and technological Square, headed by one of Twitter Jack Dorsey the founders, announced a name change to Block. The new name will reflect the transformation of the company into an ecosystem that unites other areas. The rebranding changes are planned to come into force by the end of 2021.

Square is a company that develops solutions for accepting and processing electronic payments. The company was founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey in February 2009, and Square led an IPO in November 2015. The company's market capitalization is $110 billion on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), making the company one of the most important companies in the fintech industry worldwide for December 2021. Top exchange-traded fintech funds (ETFs), including the Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) and Global X FinTech ETF (FINX), have allocated at least 5% of assets under management (AUM) to Square in their portfolios. This level of commitment means ETFs have a high degree of trust in Square, and the company's overall valuation has a significant impact on their performance. While the vast majority of Square's revenue comes from transaction-based and subscription-based services of 54% and 42%, respectively, the company is also exploring various revenue streams such as apps, cryptocurrencies and hardware.

Twitter founder's fintech company worth $110 billion changed its name

Block will be the new name, but our main goal, economic empowerment, remains the same. No matter how we scale or change, we will continue to build tools to help expand access to the economy, "said Square founder and head Jack Dorsey.

Officially, the new name of the payment Square will appear on December 10, 2021, according to a press release from the company. On the exchange, Block will trade under the former ticker symbol SQ. Money transfer service Cash App, music streaming service Tidal and an open-source platform project to share digital assets TBD5466975 retains the names. Square Crypto is renamed Spiral.

The rebranding at Square was explained by a desire to reflect growth and commitment to blockchain projects. The changes were announced just two days after Dorsey, a prominent Bitcoin enthusiast, stepped down as Twitter's CEO at the end of November 2021, but he will remain on the board until his term expires in 2022.^[1]

Purchase of Afterpay installment service for $29 billion

At the end of July 2021, Square, created by the founder, Twitter Jack Dorsey announced the acquisition of an installment plan service Afterpay for $29 billion. As Square notes, consumers are increasingly avoiding traditional options in the form of a loan, preferring to take products in installments, and now all payment and - fintech companies from to PayPal American Express are in a hurry to launch their own version of the "buy now, pay later" system. More. here

Investing in a manufacturer of titanium rings that measure body temperature and heart rate, Oura

In early May 2021, the manufacturer of titanium rings measuring body temperature and heart rate raised $100 million. Thanks to this round of financing, the company Oura raised a total of $148.3 million. The new investors were Temasek JAZZ Venture Partners and Eisai, they were also joined by investors Forerunner Ventures, Square, MSD Capital, Marc Benioff Lifeline Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings and Next Ventures. More. here

Launch your organization to create Open Source mobile software development tools

In early March 2021, the Linux Foundation launched the Mobile Native Foundation, designed to encourage the creation of open source tools for mobile application development. Read more here.

Purchase of bitcoins in the amount of $170 million

At the end of February 2021, it became known that Square, the payment system of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, bought bitcoins worth $170 million. In a quarterly report, the company said it had acquired about 3,318 bitcoins.

Given the purchase of 4,709 bitcoins worth $50 million in October 2020, the new currency is about 5% of Square's total assets.

Why are we doing this? We believe that the Internet needs its own currency, and we believe that this is bitcoin, - said the CEO of the company Jack Dorsey during a teleconference with investors.

Dorsey also recalled that in 2020 Square allocated $10 million to support eco-friendly bitcoin mining as part of a campaign to reduce carbon emissions.

Square payment system purchased $170 million in bitcoins

Cryptocurrency is an economic empowerment tool that allows people to participate in the global monetary system and secure their own financial future, the company said in a statement. The company plans to constantly evaluate its total investments in bitcoin compared to other investments. According to the company's report, bitcoin sales revenue grew 9 times and amounted to $4.57 billion, and gross profit - $97 million, that is, about 2% of income.

According to investors, the indicators increased due to an increase in bitcoin-related activity and demand from customers, as well as a significant increase in the price of bitcoin. Companies are increasingly inclined to invest in bitcoin as its popularity grows every year, although investment in a digital coin comes with a particular risk due to its volatility. According to Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives, the share price of Tesla, which purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoins, is now directly related to the price of bitcoin.^[2]

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