Block is scaling back its investment in Tidal, the music streaming platform it bought from Jay Z in 2021, and shutting down TBD, an arm of the business that previously set out to build a decentralized Internet called “Web5.”
TBD was originally designed to be Block’s platform for developers, with a mission to create a more decentralized, secure and private internet. (Wasn't that the plot of Silicon Valley?) CEO Jack Dorsey said in a tweet in 2022 that Web5 “will likely be our most important contribution to the internet.”
Narrator: “It wasn't.”
The company instead intends to shift focus into Bitcoin mining and further developing its self-custody crypto wallet, Bitkey, which it started shipping in March, according to a recent shareholder letter.
Dorsey said on Thursday's call, “What we’re focused on in terms of our strategy overall on Bitcoin is making it more accessible, making sure that more people can access bitcoin, buy, sell it, obviously, but also send it peer-to-peer.”
Dorsey added that he wants “the Internet to have a native currency,” because that would allow Block to move money faster and offer Cash App and other products in more markets.
Block doesn't plan to mine Bitcoin itself, but instead wants to sell equipment to firms that do, with initiatives that include building its own mining computer. The company said in April that it completed the development of a 3-nanometer mining chip, which it had been working on for a year.
Block currently holds a significant Bitcoin stake, valued at around $630M.
In other strange Block news… Employees at the company were ordered to not discuss Jay Z or mention his name on internal company forums like e-mail or Slack, with no reason given for the order. Apparently the hip hop business mogul already had 99 problems, but office gossip ain't one.
Jay Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is one of Block's nine board members since Block acquired the majority stake in Tidal from him in 2021 for $297M. Shortly after employees were given that warning, CEO Jack Dorsey held a virtual meeting where he turned off the ability for employees to ask questions anonymously, which is a tradition at the meetings.