square - Pwim.Net

FinTech Giants PayPal, Intuit and Square Capital Approved to Digitally Distribute US Govt COVID-19 Small Business Stimulus

PayPal, Square and Intuit have received the US Government’s approval to take part in the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program(PPP) which was established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic triggered global financial crisis.

The approval was granted following an appeal to Congress by Financial Innovation Now (FIN), on March 19, for FinTech companies to help distribute the loans digitally, citing concerns that many small businesses would run out of working capital before they received any of the $350 billion stimulus package.

FIN is a FinTech alliance which includes Square, PayPal, Intuit and Stripe. In the letter addressed to lawmakers they argued that they had “the reach, relationships, and digital capabilities to reach those businesses most vulnerable” in a more timely fashion while the traditional US insititutions were left wanting in this regard.

PayPal First Non-Bank Participant

Paypal was the first of the non-bank institutions to announce they had received official approval to help distribute the funds under the SBA program, which is part of a larger US Congress approved economic stimulus relief package totalling $2 Trillion USD.

The global payments giant has been offering small businesses loans and cash advances since 2013.

In a Linkedin post on April 11, Dan Schulman, President and CEO of PayPal said, “We are eager to deploy our capital and expertise to do our part in helping small businesses survive this challenging period.”

Shulman also revealed that the first loans have been applied for and issued. He said,“ We expect more loans to be issued in the coming days. Thanks to Congressional leaders and the Administration for ensuring the CARES Act allowed companies like PayPal to help distribute funds quickly to those businesses that are most impacted.”

Square Capital Joins In

Jack Dorsey’s newly founded Square Capital also announced it had received SBA approval as a PPP lender in partnership with Celtic Bank.

Jackie Reses, Capital Lead and People Lead at Square took to Twitter yesterday to announce, “Square Capital has received U.S. Treasury and SBA approval to be a PPP lender, and we will start rolling out our PPP loan applications this week. We continue to work with our partner Celtic Bank as they have existing expertise as a leading SBA lender.”

The announcement also stated that sellers would be notified through the Square Dashboard when their applications are available.

Intuit Demystifys Stimulus Programs and PPP

Joining PayPal and Square Capital, Intuit has also received approval as a non-bank lender for the SBA’s PPP via its QuickBooks Capital.

Intuit appears to be taking things a step further in demystifying the whole process for American citizens. Their software simplifies the application process and offers guidance on which relief funds the small business owner’s are eligible to claim. Intuit automates the application in coordination with the SBA to distribute the PPP funds quickly.

On Monday, Intuit also announced the details of several of its new programs launched in response to the COVID-19 global financial crisis and the resulting US federal government aid programs. The FinTech company set up Intuit Aid Assist as a free website designed to help small business owners and those who are self-employed assess how much federal relief they’re eligible for under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Image via Shutterstock

Fintech not Big Tech: Square is a Greater Threat to Banks than Google and Amazon

A recent survey of 300 senior executives at US-based mid-sized financial institutions found that more than half of bank and credit union executives view Big Tech companies like Amazon and Google as significant threats to the banking industry.

Meanwhile only a third believe financial technology (fintech) firms will be a threat in the future but are they sleeping on Square?—Jack Dorsey’s financial technology venture whose stock price recently recorded a 20 month high, and the soaring price is being largely attributed to the firm’s integration of Bitcoin in its services.

What banks need to recognize is that while Amazon and Google are the perceived threats to the banking sector, they are actually on a path to become vendors or official distribution channels to banks—while Square will be their direct competitors. Unlike the institutions, Square’s acceptance and use of Bitcoin is also making it more marketable than ever to a highly desirable customer base.

Why Banks Should Worry about Square and not Google

As reported by the Wall Street Journal in November 2019, Google will begin offering checking accounts to consumers in 2020 as part of its push into financial services, The product, currently code-named “Cache,” will be run by Citigroup and small lender Stanford Federal Credit Union.

However, Google’s announced checking account is not designed to compete with banks’ checking accounts but instead actually enhances the banks’ services. In addition, Google has also launched an AI tool to help banks analyze their PPP loans, and has vastly improved its cloud services for financial institutions.

In contrast, Square Capital’s 75,000 PPP borrowers may give Square Capital new opportunities to rev up lending post-crisis. As Square’s base of large merchant continues to grow dramatically, the fintech is poised to take away a significant chunk of small lending volume for the banks.

Bitcoin Utility and the Cash App

As reported by Forbes on June 9, a recent survey of the banking industry indicates that Square may be a far greater threat to the traditional banking sector than Big Tech giants Amazon and Google.

The article suggests that Square’s surging growth and popularity come down to the number of Cash App services that can drive revenue, and its utility with Bitcoin making it attractive to older millennials and the Gen Xers.

Square has added a number of Cash App services that can drive revenue, and a recent push to highlight those features has helped it capitalize on them. According to Seeking Alpha, “Cash App is now used for tax refunds, stimulus deposit, and work paycheck deposit. Also, as retail investing surged during the stay-home period, Cash App has allowed people to buy equities and bitcoin with widely accessible features such as fractional investing and recurring purchases.”

Cash App’s P2P transfer network is its “best acquisition channel,” said CEO Jack Dorsey in a recent interview, because existing users bring in more consumers by sending and requesting funds.

According to Forbes, Cash App’s revenue for Q1 2020 was $528 million, three times its revenue for Q1 2019. In terms of Square’s Bitcoin news, a huge portion of the fintech firm’s revenue was in Bitcoin at $306 million, which also marked a $65 million increase year-over-year.

As the fiscal results show, the importance of Bitcoin to Square’s price growth cannot be overstated as the fintech firm is managing to capture a market that other virtual or challenger banks are not yet servicing.

PayPal Will Give Jack Dorsey’s Square a Run for its Cryptocurrency

Payments giant PayPal looks set to roll out cryptocurrency sales services for its 305 million users.

Rumors are buzzing in the crypto sphere that payments giant PayPal are set to offer direct cryptocurrency sales for their customer base, which could see them rise up to compete with Jack Dorsey’s fintech Unicorn—Square—in the digital assets space.

With the appearance of two job postings, the rumors of PayPal’s entry into the crypto-sphere are starting to take real shape. According to their official site, PayPal is now hiring cryptocurrency and blockchain specialists.

PayPal currently has two live listings: one for a Technical Lead – Crypto Engineer, for a role described as designing, developing and maintaining key crypto products; while the other is for a blockchain research engineer to join the fintech’s research group on “emerging blockchain technologies, performance, and their potential uses within PayPal.”

PayPal’s Fluid Opinion of Crypto

It wasn’t so long ago that PayPal was the prime vendor for any digital transferring of cash. However, as the mainstream has woken to bitcoin and the overall cryptocurrency industry, as well as the integration by newcomer fintechs like Square—PayPal has been forced to sit up and take notice.

PayPal’s perception of bitcoin, cryptocurrency in general, as well as the underlying blockchain technology has flip-flopped over the last year. There have been suggestions from a co-founder of the company that bitcoin is a scam, while there have also been recent predictions from a board member that Bitcoin could surge 250 times its current value.

PayPal was the first company to pull out of the coalition of companies involved in a Facebook-led cryptocurrency initiative, Libra Association.

Currently, PayPal can be used as an alternative means for withdrawing funds from exchanges such as Coinbase but, if the rumors are true, this would be a first for the fintech giant in terms of offering direct sales of crypto.

Competing With Square

As witnessed by Square’s soaring stock price, fintech’s that offer cryptocurrencies are making serious money. Square’s stock price recently recorded a 20- month high, and the soaring price is being largely attributed to the firm’s integration of Bitcoin in its services.

Square is a payments company founded and run by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Square rolled out bitcoin purchases in its Cash App in mid-2018—which reported $306 million in bitcoin revenue in its most recent earnings report.

Although Square was first with digital asset integration, the potential impact of PayPal to the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin sector in terms of adoption could eclipse the impact of Square, given its vast size and clientele base. As pointed out by the CryptoLark in a Tweet, “There is not enough #bitcoin for each PayPal user to have 0.05 $btc – let that sink in.”

Square Inc. Launches Alliance for Crypto and Blockchain Companies to Fight Patent Trolls

Jack Dorsey’s payment company Square has announced that it has successfully launched an initiative called “Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance,” dedicated to empowering blockchain and crypto-driven companies in the technological sector and to protect them from patent hoarding trolls.

COPA for cryptocurrency technology advancement

Through this open-source alliance, Square hopes that the crypto technology sector could grow, innovate, and subsequently, better products could be put forth for all to benefit. The Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) is designed to enable blockchain companies to join forces in order to prevent competing companies from locking up useful technologies through patents. According to Square, patent trolling – the practice through which a company attempts to stifle the competition and reap profits through court rulings by claiming patent infringement violation – would only hinder the technology sector and “stifle innovation.”

Proudly talking about his company’s new project, co-founder of Square Jack Dorsey said:

“Square is putting all of our crypto patents into a new non-profit org we’re calling the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, which will maintain a shared patent library to help the crypto community defend against patent aggressors and trolls. Join us! #bitcoin”

To become a member of the Crypto Patent Open Alliance, crypto entities and firms have to pledge to make their patents freely accessible for all other members through a shared community library. Any company working in the crypto field could join COPA, regardless of whether it possesses patents or not.

Square further explained by saying that the library served as a collective shield to protect against patent trolls and hoarders. The payments company has been reported to have ventured into the cryptocurrency sector in 2018. It has already led by example by placing its own crypto patents in the new library. Square is hoping that by joining forces, this could benefit the whole crypto and blockchain community, fueling technology growth and innovation.

Patent troll claims he is Satoshi

Among the many patent trolls out there, self-proclaimed “Bitcoin founder” Craig Wright figures among one of the most controversial ones in the industry. The Australian programmer has long claimed that he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin. He has frequently been accused of patent hoarding, securing multiple blockchain patents.

Earlier this year, Wright along with his business partner reportedly mined 1.1 million Bitcoin, estimated to be worth over $8 billion. However, when Kleiman passed away, Wright was caught in a legal battle with his former business partner’s brother, Ira Kleiman, who claimed that he was entitled to half of the Bitcoin mining empire left behind by his brother.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin had in the past addressed Craig Wright over a heated debate on patent hoarding, calling out the self-proclaimed Bitcoin founder and saying:

“If you’re bragging about how many ‘blockchain patents’ your country/company/organization has, you don’t understand blockchains.”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Explains Why Bitcoin is "The Best Internet Currency"

Bitcoin (BTC) and decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens have been all the rage lately, with crypto investors anticipating BTC’s next bull run and the DeFi industry exponentially booming in growth.

Bitcoin and tech stocks have fallen back

At the time of writing, Bitcoin seems to be consolidating at the $10,000 level. Lately, BTC has fallen back, along with technology stocks. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has been trading sideways for weeks and is currently valued north of $10,900. Market experts have been hard at work studying BTC’s movements in order to predict its next bull run.

With the Federal Reserve’s plans to print fiat by bulk to deliver COVID-19 relief, it appears that Bitcoin’s price will likely undergo another skyward surge, as investors globally have been looking at it as a hedge against inflation.

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey: “Bitcoin is the best currency”

CEO of Twitter and Square, Jack Dorsey, broached the topic of Bitcoin in a conversation with Reuters. He said that Bitcoin was “built on the internet” and that it was probably the best digital currency created. Dorsey said:

“The internet is something that is consensus-driven and is built by everyone, and anyone can change the course of it. Bitcoin has the same patterns, it was built on the internet. Anyone with a great idea can add to it.”

Blockchain and technology alliance founded by Dorsey

The Twitter CEO has long been a huge Bitcoin and blockchain advocate, and recently launched a “Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance” (COPA) through his payment company Square. The initiative was launched with the goal of empowering blockchain and crypto-driven companies in the tech sector, and to protect them from patent hoarding trolls.

Through COPA, all blockchain patents shared in the library are protected and can be accessed by members of the alliance to further innovate their blockchain projects.

Dorsey thinks that Bitcoin is the future

As shared by Forbes, Dorsey has on numerous occasions backed Bitcoin, claiming that the digital asset will become the world’s sole currency by 2030. He also said:

“I think the internet wants a native currency and I think bitcoin is probably the best manifestation of that so far.”

However, the Square CEO and founder acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to be done in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry before mainstream adoption could be achieved. Jack Dorsey asserted:

“We have to build bitcoin in such a way that it is intuitive, it’s as fast and it’s efficient as what exists today, and goes beyond that too.”

Yesterday, Bitcoin along with gold both had interesting price rallies, and it coincided with officials of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcing that they will continue to hold US interest rates close to zero, as the Federal Reserve’s goal as of now is to push inflation above 2% by 2023.

Square Announces Its Purchase of 4,709 Bitcoins for $50 Million

Today, Square announced that it has bought 4,709 bitcoins for $50 million. The announcement said, “Square believes cryptocurrency is an instrument of economic empowerment and provides a way to participate in a global monetary system, which aligns with the company’s purpose.”

Square has contributed to the boom of Bitcoin and cryptos in facilitating Bitcoin adoption and application. Square previously launched Bitcoin trading two years ago, which also enables the purchase and selling of Bitcoin. Square’s Chief Financial Officer, Amrita Ahuja said:

“We believe that bitcoin has the potential to be a more ubiquitous currency in the future. As it grows in adoption, we intend to learn and participate in a disciplined way. For a company that is building products based on a more inclusive future, this investment is a step on that journey.”

Jack Dorsey is the CEO of both social media platform Twitter and Square. Dorsey has long been a huge Bitcoin and blockchain advocate and believes that “Bitcoin is the best currency”. Square’s decision to purchase Bitcoin could highly be possible that it was influenced by Dorsey’s views on the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

Square’s purchase of Bitcoin comes after other institutions joining the crypto sphere. Last month, NASDAQ listed and the world’s largest intelligence firm, MicroStrategy bought 16,796 additional Bitcoins for $175 million. It has purchased a total of 38,250 Bitcoins at a price of $425 million.

Considering that the currency devaluation has accelerated due to economic stimulus plans, Bitcoin with a fixed amount and beyond government controls has been becoming a good investment target like safe-haven asset gold.

Square's $50 Million in Bitcoin is Better for Crypto than MicroStrategy's $425 Million BTC Investment

Square, Jack Dorsey’s fintech payments company, just announced today that it purchased $50 million worth of Bitcoin which now makes up 1% of the firm’s reserve assets. While smaller than MicroStrategy’s BTC investment, the implications for the crypto markets are predicted to be far greater.

While Square’s investment is significantly smaller than MicroStrategy’s $425 million dollar BTC purchase over August and September, the effects could be significantly greater for Bitcoin’s visibility and maturity in the mainstream markets.

Square which was co-founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, bought over 4,700 BTC earlier today, which comes just shortly after business intelligence firm MicroStrategy’s second dip into the digital hedge asset of $175 million in Bitcoin in September.

Following the announcement by Square, several notable experts have come forward to discuss what the move could mean for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry.

As reported by Forbes on Oct. 9, Tim Enneking, Managing Director of Digital Capital Management said that Square’s investment is “more impactful than the MicroStrategy announcement.”

Enneking said:

“Although the MicroStrategy investment is considerably more, the company and its CEO (Michael Saylor) are not nearly as well known as Square and Dorsey, particularly in the tech sector.”

Forbes reported that these comments were supported by Jesse Proudman, CEO of crypto hedge fund Strix Leviathan, added some support to these Enneking’s assessment. Proudman said:

“As Bitcoin holds value for different reasons to different people, institutional adoption can take many forms […]Given Jack Dorsey’s prominence, Square’s Bitcoin acquisition will bring additional attention to the notion of Bitcoin as a corporate hedge to USD inflation.”

Proudman added, “This marks the second public company following MicroStrategy’s recent purchases (collectively $425M) to adopt this strategy and is likely indicative of a wave of further interest.”

Director of Institutional Research for TradeBlock, JoshTodaro said:

“Unlike institutional investment adoption from a fund standpoint, which we have seen in the past, we are now seeing institutional adoption from a corporate standpoint in which Bitcoin is being treated less as a speculative investment and more as an inflation resistant reserve asset on corporates’ balance sheets.”

Dollar crash and double-dip recession odds are high

Market uncertainty has accelerated the adoption of Bitcoin on an institutional level as the crypto is being treated less as a speculative investment and more as an inflation resistant reserve asset.

As reported, Economist Stephen Roach believes that the US dollar is set to crash and that a double-dip recession’s odds are above 50 percent. Bitcoin has long benefited from the weakening of the US dollar, as the greenback is the world’s predominant reserve asset.

Stephen Roach, who was the former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, previously predicted back in June 2020, that the US dollar could crash by 35 percent against foreign currencies.

Recently, Roach told CNBC that he could see the US dollar crash happening by the end of 2021.

Square Stocks Soar After Bitcoin Purchase, Market Bulls Convinced PayPal Will Make a BTC Move of Its Own

Square’s $50 million-dollar move on Bitcoin has pushed the fintech payment company’s stocks higher, enabling it to outperform PayPal shares.

Square bullish on Bitcoin

Square, a mobile payment company founded by Twitter CEO and Bitcoin pioneer Jack Dorsey, recently announced that it purchased 4,709 Bitcoins (BTC). The new addition translates to 1% of the firm’s total reserve assets. The announcement spurred great excitement in the Bitcoin (BTC) community, as Square has been very cryptocurrency-forward, even having a Bitcoin payments feature available on its Cash App.

Square stocks performed bullishly on the market after the news, as the financial company joined the growing number of firms that have invested in Bitcoin as a hedge this year.

BTC pioneers – PayPal to Jump on the Bitcoin train

Following Square’s new purchase, Bitcoin bulls have speculated that it was only a matter of time before Square’s industry rival, PayPal, followed suit and directed its attention towards BTC. In June, there had been talks that the digital payments company was considering rolling out cryptocurrency sales services for its 305 million users.

Author of “Why Buy Bitcoin” Andy Edstrom explained his logic by pointing to the fact that one of PayPal’s board members of 2016, Wences Casares, was no longer listed as part of the payments company’s executives. He explained that this could be indicative of the fact that PayPal was soon to make a move on Bitcoin, as Wences may have been in a conflict of interest with the payments giant, as he possessed Xapo – a Hong-Kong founded Bitcoin wallet that also had a cold storage option and a BTC-based debit card.

Edstrom said:

“Square stock is crushing PayPal stock. Square does #Bitcoin. PayPal doesn’t. Wences seems to have left the PayPal board. PayPal #Bitcoin service imminent?”

Estrom’s reasoning was backed by Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz, who has long been reputed to be a Bitcoin whale. The blockchain and crypto company CEO echoed Estrom through a re-tweet. In reference to Paypal potentially launching a Bitcoin service, he said:

“It’s coming and will be the biggest news for $BTC in 2020. And it’s been a big news year. Just reading tea leaves here.”

2020 the year of Bitcoin

Bitcoin has achieved significant gains this year. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the mainstream cryptocurrency has recorded notable gains on the market, mainly due to the US Federal Reserve’s plans to push inflation above its traditional 2% target and the US dollar devaluating as a consequence of mass money printing to deliver stimulus packages.

With the depreciation of the US dollar, investors have flocked to Bitcoin, seeking it as a hedge investment and a store of value.

Bitcoin has currently surged past its resistance level of $11K, trading at the time of writing at $11,365 based on data from CoinGecko.

Public Companies Now Hold Almost $7 Billion Worth Of Bitcoin

At the time of writing, there is almost $7 billion of Bitcoin currently held by 13 publicly listed companies. Companies including Grayscale, Galaxy Digital, Microstrategy, and Square, are among the largest holders of cryptocurrency, as businesses react to a change in sentiment towards Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Several high profile influential figures that have previously cast doubt upon cryptocurrency are now also changing their tune, as blockchain technology becomes an undeniable force for innovation.

Gold has historically been the go-to as a hedge against economic uncertainty, but the rise in adoption of Bitcoin has grown exponentially throughout the last decade, drawing the attention of some of the biggest names in tech.

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and payments processing service Square, publicly tweeted that Square had invested $50 million of the company’s holdings into Bitcoin, along with details of how other publicly traded companies could do it too.

Grayscale has been stacking huge amounts of Bitcoin on behalf of clients over the past year, with a total of 449,596 BTC under management in its BTC trust.

Software giant Microstrategy currently holds 38,250 BTC, the second-largest holding of cryptocurrency than any publicly traded investor, other than Grayscale. The holdings also mean that an array of shareholders are also indirectly exposed to cryptocurrency as Bitcoin makes the company’s balance sheet.

Interestingly, the government of Norway holds a 2% stake in Microstrategy, meaning that all Norwegians are now also exposed to Bitcoin indirectly.

Investments by the publicly traded companies on this list are proving to be a catalyst for the demand of Bitcoin on an enterprise level, and we can expect to see this list keep growing.

PayPal Finally Enables Cryptocurrency Payments and Shopping

Payments giant PayPal has integrated cryptocurrency buying, selling, storage and payments into its global network.

The customers of the San Jose-based online payment services giant PayPal will finally be able to make payments as well as receive the same using digital currencies through PayPal’s online wallets.

According to a report from Reuters on Oct. 21, the debut of PayPal into the cryptocurrency payment scene is significant owing to the extensive reach of the company that controls over 300 million accounts worldwide.

Through the new service, PayPal customers can now purchase items and receive payments for goods and services using the enabled digital currencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The service also provides a storage wallet for digital currencies. Despite payments being made in crypto, the merchants will receive the settlement of the equivalent amount in fiat currency.

PayPal’s Chief Executive Officer and President Dan Schulman revealed in an interview that the launch of the crypto payment service is geared at bolstering the continuous adoption and integration of digital currencies. He also stated that the company is in consultation with Central Banks and private business entities to prepare its networks for any proposed Central Bank Digital Currencies or similar currencies that may be developed by either of the entities.

PayPal’s Crypto Payment Service Long Due

PayPal has long been tagged with the development and subsequent launch of this cryptocurrency payment service as detailed by Blockchain.news. In a recent letter sent to the European Commission, the company confirmed that has it is actively working to bring cryptocurrencies capabilities on its platform. The firm noted that it has taken tangible and unilateral steps to further develop its capabilities in the cryptocurrency space.

Now that the company has debuted its own service, a niche that is currently being dominated by payment services rivals including Jack Dorsey’s backed Square Inc, there are expectations that PayPal with this new service will give Square and other such firms a run for their crypto holdings.