Square invests 50 million USD in BTC: instrument of economic empowerment

[Dorodha]

Square is investing 50 million in BTC to determine economic empowerment because looking at the structure of the tax system the main source of revenue collection is value added tax. Then the place of direct tax or income tax while our revenue collection through international trade tariffs is comparatively declining it will further decline. Because the liberalization of the international trade system will further reduce the income from this sector. there is no way to rely on this sector to increase revenue collection in the future.

[fillippone]

<...>
Personally I'm a speculator. I came for the price swings, I stayed for the technology. I love markets and economic theory so it's hard for me to think of Bitcoin price as uninteresting.

If you want to speculate it’s plently of other regulated or not regulated asset classes to speculate on.
Probably same volatility, far less problems cashing out.

If you are reading this, am sure you think bitcoin has more interesting aspect than a long short strategy on EURUSD or TSLA.

Back on topic now please!

[exstasie]

Personally I'm a speculator. I came for the price swings, I stayed for the technology. I love markets and economic theory so it's hard for me to think of Bitcoin price as uninteresting.

If you want to speculate it’s plently of other regulated or not regulated asset classes to speculate on.
Probably same volatility, far less problems cashing out.

If you are reading this, am sure you think bitcoin has more interesting aspect than a long short strategy on EURUSD or TSLA.

If price is so uninteresting, why do you seem so interested in things like stock-to-flow?

I don't blame anyone for being drawn to Bitcoin's chart. There is none other like it in the world. Perhaps you simply have less appreciation for markets and economics than others, and they have less appreciation for Bitcoin's technology than you. That's okay.

Are you telling me stocks or forex have the same volatility, the same opportunities? LOL. I've been trading for a decade. I think not! I transitioned to trading crypto almost exclusively several years ago because the opportunities are exponentially larger and more reliable than any other market I had ever traded.

[lixer]

I am not sure that anyone would say that the company’s 1% investment is too small, like seriously? They invested 1% of the company’s total asset which is worth $50 million, how is that a small amount? That’s a huge amount and is enough already if they decide.

It’s recommended that people should around 1% to 5% of their total assets in cryptocurrency, so they did the right thing, because even that, is a very high amount of money.

Although that for some of us, our 1% to 5% would be very useless when invested in cryptocurrency. As for those who have the money, they can go for it and keep investing , at least the community should be growing. This step can motivate other companies to take the same step.

[fillippone]

I am not sure that anyone would say that the company’s 1% investment is too small, like seriously? They invested 1% of the company’s total asset which is worth $50 million, how is that a small amount? That’s a huge amount and is enough already if they decide.

It’s recommended that people should around 1% to 5% of their total assets in cryptocurrency, so they did the right thing, because even that, is a very high amount of money.

Although that for some of us, our 1% to 5% would be very useless when invested in cryptocurrency. As for those who have the money, they can go for it and keep investing , at least the community should be growing. This step can motivate other companies to take the same step.

One of the first "model" I used when I decided to buy Bitcoin was based on the question: "What happens if everyone decides to buy 1% of their financial wealth in Bitcoin?"

Well the answer is this one (updated figures):

World Adult Wealth (tln)   360
1% of such Wealth is (tln)   3.6
   
   
Circulating Bitcoin   21,000,000
This is an overstatement, but I want conservative estimates.

   
Bitcoin Value   3,600,000,000,000/21,000,000 equal to USD 171,428.57.

So, yes, 1% is a lot!

[justdimin]

Honestly it doesn't really shock me that people are getting into bitcoin wholesale. These are big companies and it makes sense for them to risk it like this, if they fail at the very worst they would be CEO's and so forth who lost hundreds of millions of dollars and they would totally be fine, who cares because they have a great resume, but if they actually achieve stuff like 2x return to investors, it would be surreal, they would be one of the most famous companies in their sector and they would get ton of new investors.

Why should we care about something as small as 50 million dollar investment? Look at all the miners, there is over a billion dollars invested into mining sector already, we are already getting huge with the big companies for the past 2-3 years anyway.

[SquallLeonhart]

One of the first "model" I used when I decided to buy Bitcoin was based on the question: "What happens if everyone decides to buy 1% of their financial wealth in Bitcoin?"

Well the answer is this one (updated figures):

World Adult Wealth (bln)   360
1% of such Wealth is (bln)   3.6
   
   
Circulating Bitcoin   21,000,000
This is an overstatement, but I want conservative estimates.

   
Bitcoin Value   3,600,000,000,000/21,000,000 equal to USD 171,428.57.

So, yes, 1% is a lot!

I am pretty sure there must be something wrong with that calculation, are you sure that total wealth is at 360 billion?

I thought only the first 10 richest people in the world worths more than that, how could we say that the total combined is like that? I don't know what the real number is, I don't know what the combined wealth looks like, but at the end of the topic is, even if at 1% of everyone going in, we are only 17x, so that shows you how we have a big cap.

I understand you used this example to say bitcoin could go up even with "just 1%" but that 1% is huge, nobody has 1% in everything, people usually either do not invest because they are too poor, or they invest into 2-3 things at most, very few people invest into 10+ different things.

To ask everyone and I mean EVERYONE in the world to put 1% of their money to bitcoin is not realistic at all and even with that we are only at 170k.

[fillippone]

I am pretty sure there must be something wrong with that calculation, are you sure that total wealth is at 360 billion?

You are correct, I got once again stuck in the middle of an edit and left inconsistent digits: the total wealth is 360,000 billions, or 360 trillions. The important thing is the final bitcoin value is correct at 175,000 USD!

[SquallLeonhart]

I am pretty sure there must be something wrong with that calculation, are you sure that total wealth is at 360 billion?

You are correct, I got once again stuck in the middle of an edit and left inconsistent digits: the total wealth is 360,000 billions, or 360 trillions. The important thing is the final bitcoin value is correct at 175,000 USD!

But that makes it harder, we are talking about 360 trillion wealth and you want 1% of that, that is not really realistic is it? Sure you could "expect" it but just because you and I expect such a thing doesn't mean it will happen. I think wanting 1% of all the wealth in the entire world to be in crypto is something a bit too much.

However we should also not forget that 1% of 360 trillion is 3.6 trillion dollars, as a whole market we have seen crypto reach 1 trillion dollars. So, what I would suggest is to make sure you do your calculation once again, and this time instead of bitcoin at 3.6 trillion dollars which would be very very difficult, just consider 3.6 trillion as the whole market, the crypto one, so at that point you have to take a look at bitcoin domination and recalculate it. It won't be 170k, but it could be something along the lines of 80k or so, which is a bit more realistic if you ask me.

[fillippone]

While I see plenty of reason why you should diversify your investment with 1% bitcoin, and some other like Fidelity think you should go up to 5%, I can’t see a reason why I should invest any amount in any shitcoin.

I am so sure about this because this is exactly the investment thesis I decided to follow when I invested in Bitcoin.

[ecnalubma]

This company really know what to put on their bags, they wouldn’t bought it without a reason they probably they want to miss Bitcoin. I feel positive about this and sooner or later more companies will follow their steps, companies are fomoing now or others might secretly bought some Btc’s.

[fillippone]

I totally missed this news:

Square Buys $170 Million More Bitcoin, Deepening Crypto Bet

Square Inc. said it purchased $170 million in Bitcoin, further committing to the cryptocurrency and raising its holdings to about 5% of the company’s cash and equivalents.

Today Square reported his earnings, and i there discovered this news I totally missed.

I will update here other relevant news in the earnings conference.

[fillippone]

On this page you can find all the information about Square quarterly results:

Latest Quarter | Q1 2021

On this page, there is a truckload of information.

On this excel spreadsheet there is this information:



What are those Bitcoin Costs?

According to the Q1 2021 Shareholder Letter:

Bitcoin costs are the total amount of bitcoin that we purchase.
We purchase bitcoin to facilitate customers’ access to bitcoin

This is the first time I see this explicitly reported, but the numbers are in line with previous reports.

So i plugged those numbers in my spreadsheet:



This is impressive, given the astronomical rise in the underlying BTC price.

[ivomm]

These tables are quite confusing for me. I use only https://www.bybt.com/Grayscale where I can see 653K BTC's in Greyscale possesion. And this hasn't changed for 3 months, meaning no buying occured. Which is strange, since the other day they announced a buy for $200mil which would be 3-4K BTC but this is not visible on the chart. They also are going to buy more with $550mil in the next days/weeks. And that negarive premium - to whom are they selling those shares?

[fillippone]

These tables are quite confusing for me. I use only https://www.bybt.com/Grayscale where I can see 653K BTC's in Greyscale possesion. And this hasn't changed for 3 months, meaning no buying occured. Which is strange, since the other day they announced a buy for $200mil which would be 3-4K BTC but this is not visible on the chart. They also are going to buy more with $550mil in the next days/weeks. And that negarive premium - to whom are they selling those shares?

I think the right place to discuss those are on my thread:
Everything you wanted to know about Grayscale BTC Trust but were afraid to ask!

Anyway, just some superquick answer:

• No buying occurred, but as you can see from the spreadsheet in my Grayscale thread, they bought some coins back in January, which is Q121
• The buying of 200 Million is buying in shares. They are buying in the secondary market. All these graphs are regarding the primary market or the issuance of the shares.
• When they buy the shares they have two options: either hold for future sells or destroy them, reducing the AUM of the fund.

[Lorence.xD]

This company really know what to put on their bags, they wouldn’t bought it without a reason they probably they want to miss Bitcoin. I feel positive about this and sooner or later more companies will follow their steps, companies are fomoing now or others might secretly bought some Btc’s.

Will these purchase increase the prices though because considering how big Tesla has bought, 50 million isn't a lot for a company like Square, I feel like these purchase is going to be a short-term one.

[Daltonik]

Jack Dorsey said that Square is considering creating a hardware wallet for bitcoin. When creating it, the company will be guided by the principles of maximum openness-from using open source software to designing the appearance in cooperation with the community.
Dorsey also noted that the potential product could be combined with the Cash App.  https://twitter.com/jack/status/1400839179513339905

[Daltonik]

Square will also create its own hardware wallet and a service for storing bitcoin. This was announced by the head of the hardware product development department of the payment company, Jesse Dorogusker. Given the fact that there are really a lot of problems in the hardware wallet market, I think the appearance of new products will give users more choice.

[fillippone]

Square will also create its own hardware wallet and a service for storing bitcoin. This was announced by the head of the hardware product development department of the payment company, Jesse Dorogusker. Given the fact that there are really a lot of problems in the hardware wallet market, I think the appearance of new products will give users more choice.

Indeed, custody has been a critical aspect of Bitcoin UX in the past and continues to be a cumbersome task for most users. Not everyone will have the privilege to afford professional custody, provided that one of such acts in the relevant juristiction. Hence solution like this will greatly help the use of bitcoins.

[valentine wheeler]

Square will also create its own hardware wallet and a service for storing bitcoin. This was announced by the head of the hardware product development department of the payment company, Jesse Dorogusker. Given the fact that there are really a lot of problems in the hardware wallet market, I think the appearance of new products will give users more choice.

Indeed, custody has been a critical aspect of Bitcoin UX in the past and continues to be a cumbersome task for most users. Not everyone will have the privilege to afford professional custody, provided that one of such acts in the relevant juristiction. Hence solution like this will greatly help the use of bitcoins.

Jesse Dorogusker said that the Bitcoin hardware wallet product must have the following directions: Bitcoin first, global distribution, multi-signature to achieve "assisted self-custody", and give priority to mobile usability.

I have also paid attention to this information. This matter is moving in a better direction. I feel very excited because of their attempts and efforts. I will continue to pay attention to it.