Square Crypto Lead: ‘The Product We’re Focusing on Is Bitcoin’

Square Crypto is focused on bitcoin, not the publicly traded company’s specific products.

That was the message Monday during a Twitter ask-me-anything (AMA) with the head of Square’s crypto team, Steve Lee.

The unit’s playful Twitter account fielded questions from its followers as well as crypto-community luminaries. With tweets signed simply “Steve,” it was Lee’s first set of public remarks on the team’s broad objectives since being hired in June.

Probably the single most illuminating moment of the AMA was this exchange:

The product we’re focusing on is Bitcoin. It has been up and running for over 10 years… but there’s still a lot that needs to be done before we reach mass adoption. – Steve https://t.co/oU0yzhpWqX

— Square Crypto (@sqcrypto) July 29, 2019

Many participants seemed to assume that Square Crypto had been built to improve how the payments company serves its existing crypto users. Square’s Cash App has been steadily earning more money on sales of bitcoin, bringing in $65.5 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2019 alone.

However, enhancing the Cash App’s crypto functionality is not the team’s focus, Lee said, as a tweet similar to the one above made even more clear:

You would have to ask Square. We are focused on open-source Bitcoin development. We do hope our work improves as many products and businesses as possible, including Square and its competitors. – Steve https://t.co/cLNCcVLGpT

— Square Crypto (@sqcrypto) July 29, 2019

That said, Lee’s response to a question about supporting bitcoin core made it sound like the team has another vision for the best use of its resources:

Our process is design-centric. This may lead to consumer UI, infrastructure, and protocol development. Some projects may be accomplished in 3 months and others may take 3 years. All will be done in coordination with the rest of the open-source Bitcoin community. – Steve https://t.co/bAjgC5pcXh

— Square Crypto (@sqcrypto) July 29, 2019

More on Square Crypto’s design sensibility has been shared on Medium.

Lee appears to be the team’s only hire so far. The Square Crypto account largely dodged questions about team size, but it did make clear that it’s close to bringing on another developer:

We’ve received more than 1,500 resumes and are blown away by how much interest there has been. I can say that we are very close to onboarding our first developer. We think the community will approve. – Steve https://t.co/ytAzD8bMJa

— Square Crypto (@sqcrypto) July 29, 2019

One participant asked the account why the company wasn’t creating its own token, like so many companies in the last few years. Square Crypto responded by posting a tweet from the company’s founder:

Bitcoin is resilient. Bitcoin is principled. Bitcoin is native to internet ideals. And it’s a great brand.

— jack ??? (@jack) February 5, 2019

Jack Dorsey image via Shutterstock