In announcing the name change, the payments business Square said it was paying tribute to one of the primary interests of its chief executive, Jack Dorsey, who is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and a proponent of the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrency transactions.
Mr. Dorsey said on Monday that he would be stepping down as CEO of his other firm, Twitter, a move that many speculated was to allow him to devote more of his time to bitcoin and Square.
According to a press statement from the firm, Block will become the name of the “corporate entity,” with Square remaining to be the component of the company that assists consumers and companies in processing payments. Its parent business also has stakes in Tidal (an online music streaming service), Cash App (a payment service), and TBD54566975, a developer platform dedicated to bitcoin development. Square said that, other from the name change, there will be no further organisational changes made to the corporation in the future.
Building blocks, community blocks and their local businesses, communities coming together at block parties full of music, a blockchain, a piece of code, and challenges to overcome are some of the connotations linked with the term, according to the company’s press release. It anticipates that the name change will become official on December 10.
Mr. Dorsey has been more interested in cryptocurrencies in recent years, particularly the promise of decentralisation that blockchain technology may bring about in the future. Earlier this year, he said that Twitter will assist in the development of a decentralised sort of social media in which individuals may construct their own algorithms and manage their own communities. “#bitcoin” is the only item that appears in his Twitter bio.
Mr. Dorsey’s foray into the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain may be particularly appealing to him, given that he has spent an increasing amount of time in his last few years as Twitter’s chief executive defending the company’s role in spreading misinformation, testifying before lawmakers, and receiving frequent criticism from former President Donald J. Trump, who was barred from using Twitter following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Mr. Dorsey did not mention cryptocurrencies or the blockchain in a short comment in the press release announcing his company’s name change, instead stating that “our objective of economic empowerment remains the same,” despite the company’s new moniker. “We will continue to develop instruments to aid in the expansion of economic opportunity, regardless of how we grow or evolve.”
