Square Crypto, the billionaire’s bitcoin fundraising venture, has been relaunched as Spiral, with the goal of “making bitcoin the world’s preferred currency.” Square, the transactions business, announced on Wednesday that it changed its name to Block Inc. Spiral is the new name for Square Crypto, a business focused on sponsoring Bitcoin innovations. Spiral’s emphasis, Bitcoin, is alluded to by the name, since it grows like a spiral from a specific point, embracing more and more area until it encompasses everything. They felt it was time for their long-overdue rebranding when Square chose to rebrand itself. After all, Square Crypto was never the most appropriate moniker for any group. Having “Square” in its name created a clear link between the corporate donor we’re meant to be autonomous of, and ourselves. On the other hand, including “crypto” in its name is rather confusing because the firm is primarily focused on Bitcoin.
The corporate restructuring to Block was partly motivated by a desire to better differentiate Square’s several product lines and offers. Going forward, Square will exclusively handle Block’s Seller business. They created the Square brand specifically for their Seller company, which is where it belongs. Block has a new name, but its goal of economic empowerment hasn’t changed. They will continue to design tools to assist in broadening access to the economy, regardless of how things grow or evolve. Square Inc.’s legal name will be changed to Block Inc. on December 10, although the company’s NYSE ticker symbol, SQ, will remain unchanged. Square, Cash App, TIDAL, and TBD will continue to operate under their respective labels.
Spiral, as well as TBD, are two Block efforts that are only focused on Bitcoin. TBD is now focused on constructing a decentralized bitcoin exchange, whereas Spiral is devoted to building and sponsoring “open-source initiatives aimed at making bitcoin the planet’s preferred form of currency.” Square’s rebranding comes just a few days after CEO Jack Dorsey resigned from his position as CEO of Twitter.
