In one surprising and unusual move in using its corporate cash, the payment company Square announced that it bought 4,709 Bitcoins.
The company spent about $50 million at the time of publication, to buy them.
That is an average price of around $10,600 per Bitcoin.
"Square believes that cryptocurrency is an instrument of economic empowerment and provides a way for the world to participate in a global monetary system, which aligns with the company's purpose," the company said in its press release.
Today, @Square announced that it has purchased $50M in bitcoin. 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. For more, visit https://t.co/HPhSMfVgac.
— Square IR (@SquareIR) October 8, 2020
Square's Chief Financial Officer, Amrita Ahuja, said that:
"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."
On the press release, it was noted that the investment represents approximately 1% of Square’s “assets as of the end of the second quarter of 2020.”
The company’s co-founder Jack Dorsey has been a long-term proponent and an advocate of both Bitcoin and the blockchain technology.
He once referred Bitcoin as "one of the most seminal works" in decades, and also said that it is the most viable internet-native currency.
He also said that both Bitcoin and blockchain can "point to a world where content exists forever."
More important than Square investing $50mm in #Bitcoin is sharing how we did it (so others can do the same): https://t.co/35ABYHuz4f
— jack (@jack) October 8, 2020
While Bitcoin has been extremely volatile, many people see the digital coin as a valuable asset to invest in.
Due to the increase in adoption from both commercial entities and government as a decentralized digital currency, an increasing number of people are using the popular digital coin from Satoshi Nakamoto as a payment system.
Despite its volatile price, the interest remains high.
This makes some backers to value the cryptocurrency as "digital gold".
CNN even touted it as the best investment of the decade.
Following the announcement of the Square's investment, the company that has enabled its clients to buy Bitcoin on its Cash App since 2018, can further lower its barrier of entry.
After the news came up, price of the digital currency jumped up to around 2.5%, while shares in the company went up around 1%.