Jack Dorsey’s Square Pivots Focus to Blockchain, Changes Name to “Block”

Days after Jack Dorsey resigned from his position as CEO of Twitter, his payments company, Square, has announced that it’ll be changing its name to Block Inc as it looks to focus more on the blockchain and other technologies.

The payments company where Jack Dorsey remains the CEO claims that it is rebranding to distinguish its corporate entity from its businesses.

Square Becomes Block

Similar to what Facebook did last month when it rebranded as Meta, the company said the name ‘Square’ has become associated with its payment business. It seeks to establish a brand and identity that goes beyond offering payments services.

Block is @Square, @CashApp, @spiralbtc, @TIDAL, @TBD54566975, and our foundational teams who support them. We’re here to build simple tools to increase access to the economy. https://t.co/CkVKxHPkqy pic.twitter.com/RMOnxCLP9Y

— Block (@blocks) December 1, 2021

According to the company, its different business units will continue to function without any organizational change. This means that the payments business Square, peer to peer payments service Cash App, Bitcoin-focused financial service, TBD54566975, and music streaming service, Tidal, will continue to function independently under their brands.

In its statement about the rebranding, Square stated that the name Block has several meanings for the company. It represents building blocks, whether it’s through local businesses in neighbourhood blocks, people coming together for block parties, an obstacle to surmount, or the blockchain.

Square’s Crypto Adventure

Before now, Square has shown interest in cryptocurrency as its CEO, Jack Dorsey, is a top crypto advocate. Early this year, it bought $50 million worth of Bitcoin, becoming one of the first institutions to own the digital currency. It also invested $170 million later in February.

Beyond buying crypto, the company is also considering creating a hardware Bitcoin wallet that will make custody more mainstream and further drive the adoption of cryptocurrencies. 

Block will effectively replace Square as the new name from around December 10. But the name change will not affect the “SQ” ticker used to list the company on the New York Stock exchange.