Square converted 1% of the total company's assets into Bitcoin

On October 8, 2020, Square Inc., the financial services and mobile payment company co-founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, made a strategic investment that would resonate throughout the financial and cryptocurrency sectors. The company announced it had purchased approximately 4,709 bitcoins, an investment worth about $50 million. This investment represented 1% of Square’s total assets at the end of the second quarter of 2020.
 

Square’s investment in Bitcoin was a significant endorsement of the cryptocurrency’s potential as a tool for economic empowerment. The company stated that it believed cryptocurrency could provide a way for the world to participate in a global monetary system, which aligned with Square’s purpose. Square’s Chief Financial Officer, Amrita Ahuja, expressed the company’s belief in Bitcoin’s potential to become a more ubiquitous currency in the future. As Bitcoin grew in adoption, Square intended to learn and participate in a disciplined way.
 

This move by Square was characterized as a mission-driven investment, reflecting the company’s commitment to building products based on a more inclusive future. The investment came amid a public discussion on corporate responsibility in the cryptocurrency space, with Dorsey highlighting Bitcoin as an instrument of direct activism against an unverifiable and exclusionary financial system.
 

Square’s involvement with Bitcoin was not new; the company had previously invested in Bitcoin from a product, leadership, and legal innovation perspective. In 2018, Square launched Bitcoin trading through its Cash App, which enabled the buying and selling of Bitcoin. In 2019, the company formed Square Crypto, an independent team focused on contributing to Bitcoin open-source work for the benefit of all. Additionally, Square had recently launched the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit organization encouraging crypto innovation and opening access to patented crypto inventions.
 

The announcement of Square’s Bitcoin investment saw an immediate impact on the market, with Bitcoin’s price jumping 2.5%, and shares in Square popping around 1% following the news. Square’s decision to allocate a portion of its assets to Bitcoin was seen as a forward-thinking move, especially coming after MicroStrategy’s significant investment in Bitcoin, which had designated the cryptocurrency as its treasury reserve asset of choice.