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Jack Dorsey’s Square changes its name to Block

BLOCK Block LogoBLOCK

Days after Jack Dorsey resigned as chief executive of Twitter, his other company is changing its name.

Square, the digital-payments company he owns and runs, will now go under the new corporate name of Block.

In October, the Facebook group adopted Meta as its new corporate name.

And in the same way, individual businesses owned by Block, "building blocks", as the company put it, such as Square and music-streaming platform Tidal, retain their original names.

'Economic empowerment'

Square's business includes payment systems - such as card readers - and banking products for retailers.

"We built the Square brand for our seller business, which is where it belongs," Mr Dorsey said.

"Block is a new name but our purpose of economic empowerment remains the same.

"No matter how we grow or change, we will continue to build tools to help increase access to the economy."

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Square said, on Twitter: "We've been working to make this change for over a year and it only represents a change of our official corporate name - not our purpose, our vision, our structure, or how we operate".

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Referencing Facebook's rebrand, the company tweeted: "Not to get all meta on you… but we're going to.

"'Block' references the neighbourhood blocks where we find our sellers, a blockchain, block parties full of music, obstacles to overcome, a section of code, building blocks and, of course, tungsten cubes."

Getty Images Jack DorseyGetty Images

Mr Dorsey is well known for his interest in cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that powers them.

He had recently set up a cryptocurrency team at Twitter, looking at how the company embraced digital assets and decentralised apps.

Square Crypto, a unit within Square "dedicated to advancing Bitcoin", is also rebranding, as Spiral.

And the name change to Block has been taken by many to suggest the company will have a greater focus on these areas in the future.

"In a lot of ways, the rebranding is also reflective of Dorsey's well known enthusiasm for cryptocurrency" technology-news website Engadget wrote.

"After all, this is the man who wanted the world to know he has a Bitcoin clock in his kitchen."