Jack Dorsey’s Square Targets Bitcoin Network for DeFi

When the bitcoin price is in a downturn, developers tend to focus more on building. That seems to be the case in the latest market cycle, with companies like Square and PayPal both focused on bitcoin. Both companies happened to announce their latest developments at about the same time. Square’s stock is moving higher today while PayPal shares have barely budged.

Square’s Decentralized Push

Square generated USD 4.5 billion in bitcoin revenue last year on its Cash App. Jack Dorsey’s company is already behind Square Crypto, which is dedicated to building and funding open-source Bitcoin projects that support BTC for payments. Now Dorsey has announced a new initiative to create an open developer platform that paves the way for decentralized financial (DeFi) services on Bitcoin.

DeFi is a burgeoning niche in the cryptocurrency industry that gives users the ability to generate passive income through activities such as staking and lending. It also gives people who are either unbanked or underbanked access to financial services that they otherwise would not receive.

Ethereum is currently the go-to platform for decentralized finance. That is the blockchain on which most decentralized applications (Dapps) are built. Ethereum is a natural fit given its use of smart contracts that take the place of third parties such as banks.

Now Dorsey apparently wants to muscle Bitcoin into the DeFi fray. There is currently USD 54 billion in total value locked (TVL) in DeFi, and Dorsey seemingly believes Bitcoin should capture more of it. Square has named Mike Brock to lead the business, which has yet to be named. The work on the project will all be transparent and open-source in the spirit of decentralization.

Responses from the cryptocurrency community were mixed. Independent developer Udi Wertheimer said, “This is good.” Investor Lark Davis asked why not just use Ethereum?

PayPal Eases Bitcoin Limits

Payments platform PayPal may not be building out a new DeFi platform, but it is making it easier for users to transact using bitcoin. PayPal has increased the weekly purchase ceiling for U.S. customers to USD 100K, paving the way for higher transactions. As part of the changes, there will be no yearly purchase cap.

Previously, the limit was USD 20K on weekly bitcoin purchases, while the yearly purchase limit was set at USD 50K.

Square and PayPal seem to be giving the bitcoin price a pop, with the leading cryptocurrency up 2% in the last 24-hour period.