SQSPTWTRSQTwitter CEO Jack Dorsey addresses students during a town hall at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi, India, November 12, 2018.Anushree Fadnavis | Reuters
Square CEO Jack Dorsey said Friday the company is looking into building a hardware bitcoin wallet that would give consumers greater control over the cryptocurrency they own.
Shares of Square rose about 2.7% on Dorsey’s comments, published on Twitter, where he is also CEO.
Bitcoin transactions have become a booming business for Square, which allows consumers to make purchases using the Cash App and store the currency digitally. Bitcoin revenue at the company climbed to $4.75 billion last year from $516.5 million in 2019.
Dorsey is proposing a new way for users to store their bitcoin so that it’s not controlled by Square or any other company. A bitcoin wallet could allow users to store the cryptocurrency in a secure gadget and let them choose to spend it later.
“Square is considering making a hardware wallet for bitcoin,” Dorsey said. “If we do it, we would build it entirely in the open, from software to hardware design, and in collaboration with the community.”‘
He explained how Square’s product, if built, might differ from available alternatives.
“The exchange you
