Block, formerly known as Square, has broadened its focus beyond payments in recent months.
Block CEO Jack Dorsey has told investors the company is no longer just a payments firm. The company is expanding into the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, placing significant emphasis on Bitcoin. As Dorsey explained,
“We are no longer just a payments company. A lot has changed since our last investor day.”
Launched in 2009 as Square, the company originally concentrated on creating a mobile credit card reader. Over time it expanded into peer-to-peer payments and banking-like services through Cash App.
Square also operated with FDIC-insured bank features and provided customers with stock and cryptocurrency trading services.
Last year, Square rebranded to Block when Dorsey revealed the company’s intention to build a decentralized ecosystem on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Block’s chief financial officer, Amrita Ahuja, told CNBC in an interview that
“Calling Block a payments company is like calling Amazon a bookstore. We’ve grown in so many different ways across multiple dimensions.”
Despite recent challenges across the fintech sector driven by rising inflation, Ahuja said Block is currently outperforming many of its peers. She added,
“Wall Street analysts will want to understand our growth profile and margin structure as a company — you can see from our track record that we’re growing out of the rest of the industry. We operate in a large and expanding market and continue to take share.”
The cryptocurrency market has sharply underperformed in recent months. The total crypto market is down more than 50% from the peak of roughly $3 trillion recorded in November 2021.
Bitcoin itself has lost over half its value in the past six months and is trading below $30,000 per coin.