Cryptocurrencies

Square’s Jack Dorsey Only Shows Interest in Bitcoin

This week, Square CEO Jack Dorsey took to Twitter (the other company he serves as CEO of) to talk about cryptocurrency. More accurately, he took questions about Bitcoin, noting that it’s the only crypto asset he owns. But that’s not all — Dorsey went on to suggest that his Square Cash app will share his Bitcoin-only perspective and also teased a new feature for the app.

In recent days Dorsey has been fielding various crypto-related questions via Twitter, leading him to espouse his loyalty to the top crypto asset, Bitcoin. Asked by a user what coins and tokens he was holding, Dorsey responded “I only have bitcoin.” A follow-up inquiring how much Bitcoin the dual CEO had was met with the answer “Enough.” Dorsey provided a similarly short response when asked if Square’s Cash app would allow users to purchase cryptocurrency assets other than the currently-supported Bitcoin, saying, “Nah.” The CEO did offer a lengthier (while still under the 280 character limit, of course) explanation of why he was a Bitcoin enthusiast, saying “Bitcoin is resilient. Bitcoin is principled. Bitcoin is native to internet ideals. And it’s a great brand.”

As mentioned, Square Cash currently allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin through the app. This feature is now available in 29 states following the addition of Illinois back in December. However the app does not currently enable users to receive Bitcoin from third parties as a traditional crypto wallet would. When asked by a Twitter user if such a feature could be introduced to Cash so that they could stop using Coinbase, Dorsey wrote, “Working on it,” adding, “But you’ll need to keep Coinbase to buy fakebitcoin ;).”

Of course this Bitcoin talk didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. While Dorsey has previously spoken highly of Bitcoin and the promise it holds, CNBC notes that this particular Q&A session was part of a promotion of a concept called “lightning torch.” This game of sorts found social media users adding bitcoin payments and then passing the torch to others. After accepting the torch, Dorsey tweeted, “Cool example of #BitcoinTwitter experimenting on the Lightning Network.” The Lightning Network he’s referencing is an upgrade to Bitcoin that aims to make transactions both faster and cheaper. Meanwhile Dorsey passed the “lightning torch” to Elizabeth Stark — CEO of Lightning Labs.

Dorsey’s outspoken support for Bitcoin (and only Bitcoin, it seems) has led to criticism from many sides. Although his latest comments are sure to further annoy supporters of other crypto assets, it would seem that the CEO’s endorsement is still helping push the cryptocurrency space forward overall. Hopefully that continues to be the case via potential Cash app updates, his investment in Lightning Labs, and his efforts to emphasize the benefits of decentralization.

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