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Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey went on to found Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) in 2010. It’s a payment processing company that made a credit card reader merchants could use with their smartphone to accept payments. But in 2015, Square took it a step further with the creation of Square Cash (now called Cash App).
It allowed businesses and organizations to send money from smartphones using a “cashtag” like “$thisisacashtag.” The idea was to make sending cash as easy as sending an email. The Cashtag would be like an email address for sending cash. Moreover, Square extended the app for personal use so friends could send each other cash. It entered the market PayPal had dominated since its founding by Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.
As an aside, when Peter Thiel created PayPal, his original idea was to create something like Bitcoin. He wanted to build an alternative to the fiat dollar system in the United States. But he didn’t have the level of sophistication to create what Satoshi Nakamoto wrought in 2008. So he made PayPal instead. Not revolutionary like Bitcoin. Still a massive Silicon Valley success story.
Square Entered The Bitcoin Market in 2018
But in January 2018, Square took the extraordinary step of adding Bitcoin payments to its app. It made Square function primarily as a Bitcoin custody service for users.
That was just Jack Dorsey’s way to get his hands on as much Bitcoin as possible. Because Dorsey is a Bitcoin maximalist. He believes not only will Bitcoin remain the dominant cryptocurrency, but that it will eventually be the one world currency:
The world ultimately will have a single currency, the internet will have a single currency. I personally believe that it will be bitcoin.
Square’s Bitcoin gambit paid off in no time. The company raked in massive revenue in a short amount of time after announcing Bitcoin payments and launching the product on its app. By the end of 2018, Square sold more than $166 million worth of Bitcoin to its users. By quarter two of 2019, Square’s Cash App was “absorbing” 10% of the bitcoin supply daily.
Square Stock Oversold After Market Crash
So you could say Square has some Bitcoin exposure on its books. That makes it a popular option with investors looking to get some exposure to Bitcoin in their portfolio, but who still prefer traditional stocks in publicly traded companies.
Other companies that fit the bill include CBOE Global Markets, and CME Group– because they offer Bitcoin futures, Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia– because they make processors used by Bitcoin miners, and also Grayscale Investments.
Square payments fell precipitously during the market crash sparked by coronavirus. From its all-time high level of 3,386 on Feb 19, the broad S&P 500 Index stock market benchmark fell 33.9% to 2,237 on Mar 23.
Over that same time period, Square stock had dropped 53% from $85.24 to $40.01. After getting an upgraded buy rating, it moved up along with other equities Tuesday and Wednesday, now trading in the low $50s. One market analyst says the stock is oversold based on the Relative Strength Index (RSI). Another points out Square has a strong balance sheet.
* Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of the author and does not represent professional financial or investing advice.