19.03.2024

Bitcoin-Backed Square Named Yahoo Finance Company of the Year

Yahoo Finance, in its end of the year roundup, named Square their 2018 Company of the Year.

Square, which has been around since 2009 but only began offering BTC trading in November 2017, has been a supporter of cryptocurrency despite the down market. While fiat makes up the majority use of the payment platform, Co-Founder and CEO Jack Dorsey has managed to exert an influence over the company which has extended to digital assets.

While no one will argue the fact that 2018 has been a horrible year for cryptocurrency valuation, with the majority of altcoins down 90 percent or more since the start of the year, Bitcoin-supported payment portal Square has been named a top finance company of 2018.

According to the release by Yahoo Finance, the company’s stock has demonstrated just how powerful of a player Square has become in the fintech scene,

Square’s investors know it. The stock was up 72% through Dec. 14. Before the larger market pullback that began in October, shares were up 170% through the end of September.

The acquisitions Square has made over the last several years, leading the company’s offering and technology to outpace the growing competition of a digital payment processors, has led to Square being vaulted into the top echelon of a companies typically selected by Yahoo Finance for their end of the year reward,

Square, with $26 billion in market cap and 2,300 employees, might look like a surprising choice compared to our picks in the past few years, all much larger companies: Facebook in 2015, Nvidia in 2016, and Amazon last year. But Square is rapidly making itself a force to be reckoned with in financial services. In November, the company forecast 60% growth for 2018 and more than $3.2 billion in revenue.

With the help of Dorsey, who is also co-founder and CEO of Twitter, Square has managed to grow its Bitcoin division into a wing of the company that is seeing increased revenue. In November, Square quarterly reports announced that Q3 BTC revenue was $43 million, up $37 million from the previous quarter. While that figure represents a small drop in the bucket for the billion-dollar company, it also positions Square to be a market leader in the event of broader Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption.

Jack Dorsey, who has been outspoken in his support for Bitcoin, has been one of the most high profile tech industry figures to overlap into the world of cryptocurrency. In March, Dorsey made waves in the crypto space and beyond when he gave his opinion that Bitcoin could become the internet’s–and world’s–single currency over the next ten years.

“The world ultimately will have a single currency, the internet will have a single currency. I personally believe that it will be bitcoin”,

Considering the position that Dorsey holds with both Square and Twitter, it could provide an interesting proposition for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency over the coming year. With the bombshell rumor out of Facebook that the social media giant is developing a stablecoin for its WhatsApp messaging platform, Twitter could find itself in position to follow suit in order to keep up with the competition. Square, given its high profile development and app-focused usability, could provide a conduit for Twitter to make the leap into cryptocurrency.

At the very least, Dorsey’s presence with Square and his influence in Twitter is a positive focus for cryptocurrency investors looking to 2019 for further industry growth.

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