Now will Jack Dorsey’s company make it easier to buy dinner with Bitcoin since that place is blocked?
Here’s what we know: On Monday, Jack Dorsey announced that he was stepping down from the top position on Twitter immediately. On Wednesday, its payment company Square announced that it would change its name to block and, among other things, double up on cryptocurrency, blockchain and the establishment of a decentralized payment system. I didn’t check the news today, but I suspect he announced he was starting a robot society or has plans for a teleportation system.
What does it all mean (except for the robots and teleportation)? For one thing, Jack Dorsey has had a busy week. But it also means that the same guy who helped bring real-time social media to life and democratize digital payments for small businesses is now the one who makes it easier for the average Joe to buy everyday things with cryptocurrency.
Because at the moment it’s not easy. Crypto is nowhere near as liquid as other conventional payment methods like cash or credit. Sure, you can trade crypto with no problems – anyone with a Coinbase or Robinhood account knows this – but good luck paying for a bottle of mouthwash or buying a Big Mac with this bundle of Dogecoin that will burn a hole in your crypto wallet .
What can Dorsey do about it? It’s simple: with Square Block, he has all the different parts to create a payment value chain for crypto that will take it from what is today a primarily highly volatile investment vehicle to a retail currency of tomorrow to be issued on the street.
So what are Block’s businesses ?:
Square – The company’s original product (which will retain the Square brand) covers the digital payments part of the equation. The company sells point-of-sale systems for retail and has created restaurant-specific platforms and services.
Cash App – Launched in 2015 as Square Cash, the Cash App is a personal banking, money transfer and investment app for consumers. The app added crypto trading in 2018.
TBD – Announced earlier this year, TBD (long name TBD54566975) is a decentralized financial services entity. The introduction of TBD followed other cryptocentric moves by the company, such as creating a Bitcoin hardware wallet.
And perhaps most importantly, Dorsey and Block have a passion and belief that cryptocurrency is the future and will eventually become our daily currency. The company said it so many times when it started buying and holding bitcoin last year. “We believe that Bitcoin has the potential to be a more ubiquitous currency in the future,” said Squares CFO Amrita Ahuja at the time.
You also have the know-how. “We believe there has to be a global native currency for the Internet,” said Dorsey when his company launched the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) last year. Since then, the company has announced that it will set up a decentralized bitcoin exchange in early 2021, and just last month TBD released a white paper describing a protocol for such an exchange.
This is the kind of hard work in the trenches that is required to create a smoother cryptocurrency financial system, and it looks like Block and Dorsey are eager to lead the way.
If that happens, I can imagine that one day guests will be able to purchase cryptocurrency dinner more easily than the folks behind Dinner Dao experienced during their very first meal for the NFT dinner club. While the group actually wanted to pay for dinner with the Ethereum that had been merged for their club, they had to use a Coinbase credit card that converted the crypto into US dollars.
With the introduction of Block, there’s a good chance that in five years (or maybe sooner) Dorsey and his company will have all the necessary technology, systems, and financial guardrails in place so that we can do that when we buy a Big Mac that is, with crypto. At that point, Dorsey will have accomplished another society-changing technological feat and, who knows, will finally be able to work on the teleportation network we all want.
Comments are closed.