Jack Dorsey’s company, Square, adds 4,709 Bitcoin to its balance sheet

The company referred to crypto-currencies as „an instrument of economic empowerment“.

In a surprise move, Square announced the acquisition of 4,709 Bitcoin (BTC) for approximately $50 million at the time of publication of this article. The company’s co-founder, Jack Dorsey, has been a longtime advocate of Bitcoin and crypto currencies, while the company’s CashApp application allows users to invest in Bitcoin.

Jack Dorsey still believes that Bitcoin is the strongest competitor for an Internet native currency
This news comes months after another publicly traded company, MicroStrategy, decided to convert a portion of its treasury into Bitcoin. The company currently owns 38,250 BTCs and its CEO Michael Saylor has become one of Bitcoin’s most vocal advocates. Although MicroStrategy is a large company in its own right with a market capitalization of $1.5 billion, it falls short of Square, which has a market capitalization of $81 billion.

The attached press release from Square indicated that the measure is a kind of ideological statement:

„Square believes that cryptomoney is an instrument of economic empowerment and provides a way for the world to participate in a global monetary system, which is aligned with the purpose of business.
Jack Dorsey attacks Coinbase’s apolitical stance
On September 30, Dorsey reprimanded Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong for his apolitical leadership:

Bitcoin trading generated $875 million in quarterly revenue for Square
The press release noted that the investment represents approximately 1% of „Square’s assets at the end of the second quarter of 2020“. As of June 30, the company’s total assets amounted to $7.8 billion, so the acquisition may represent closer to 0.64% of the company’s assets.