During this year’s Consensus conference in New York, Twitter’s chief executive officer Jack Dorsey revealed he hopes bitcoin will become the internet’s “native currency.” Dorsey, who’s also the CEO of payments company Square, revealed he’s in sync with most cryptocurrency enthusiasts. He said:
“The internet is going to have a native currency so let's not wait for it to happen, let's help it happen. I don’t know if it’ll be Bitcoin or not, but I hope it will be.”
Per the business executive’s words, he’s a “huge fan” of bitcoin, and would like to be able to see the cryptocurrency help lower Square’s barriers to enter new markets. Square, being a payments company dealing with fiat currencies, has to approach each market differently, find a banking partner, and work with regulators.
Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin could help the company expand worldwide. The problem, he implied, is it can’t yet be used as a currency. He said: “If we were able to use it as a currency today, we could release our apps in every app store around the world instead of the five we’re in.”
Dorsey is a well-known bitcoin bull, who earlier this year predicted bitcoin will become the world’s “single currency” in only 10 years. The CEO has also been a part of a $2.5 million seed funding round in Lightning Labs, a start-up developing the technology that’s set to allow bitcoin transactions to be more efficient.
While the business executive supports cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, at Consensus he revealed that not everyone at Square is as enthusiastic as he is. When Square added bitcoin to its Cash app, he claims it was a “pretty contentious move in the company,” as a some in it were skeptical about the technology. Even today, he noted, there are debates over the topic.
Square launched bitcoin trading through its Cash app back in January, and as covered has sold a total of $34.1 million worth of the cryptocurrency in the first quarter. It spent $33.9 million to buy bitcoin during that period, which means it made $200,000 from bitcoin trading, without charging fees.
He added:
“This technology is a fundamental shift to our world and can have so many positive outcomes. We have to do the work to educate regulators and educate the SEC why this technology is important.”
