On October 7, 2020, Square, Inc. purchased approximately 4,709 bitcoins at an aggregate purchase price of $50 million. Square has been a leader in the bitcoin space since 2018 through our Cash App product, which provides customers the ability to buy and sell bitcoin.
As believers in bitcoin’s potential for continued future growth, the company formed Square Crypto, an independent team solely focused on contributing to bitcoin open source work for the benefit of all.
Square also recently launched the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit organization encouraging crypto innovation, opening access to patented crypto inventions, and helping companies and individuals defend themselves against patent aggressors.
Given the rapid evolution of cryptocurrency and unprecedented uncertainty from a macroeconomic and currency regime perspective, we believe now is the right time for us to expand our largely USD-denominated balance sheet and make a meaningful investment in bitcoin.
We view bitcoin as an instrument of global economic empowerment; it is a way for individuals around the world to participate in a global monetary system and secure their own financial future. This investment is an important step in furthering our mission.
We’ve chosen to open source this documentation in order to clearly articulate the process behind the execution of our purchase as others consider similar moves.