Jack Dorsey's Block to prioritize bitcoin mining and wind down decentralized tech arm TBD

Jack Dorsey’s payment firm Block, formerly Square, said it will increase investment in bitcoin mining and its bitcoin self-custody wallet Bitkey in the coming year.

Block said in its third-quarter shareholder letter on Thursday that the bitcoin mining initiative has a “strong product market fit” and a “healthy pipeline of demand.” The company’s announcement aligns with what Donald Trump called for during the presidential election — positioning the U.S. as a global leader in bitcoin mining.

With its commitment to bitcoin mining, Block said it will scale back investments in music streaming app Tidal and wind down TBD, which is its business arm focused on developing the decentralized web platform it had dubbed “Web5.” The company has been laying off staff members in Tidal and TBD in the past week, which comes less than a year after the 10% layoff in December last year. 

"While we don't comment on specific numbers, we have made some internal changes to our Tidal team to focus on serving artists in the most meaningful way," said a spokesperson from Block, who explained that this involved the elimination of some roles across Tidal's business and design teams.

"We're winding down TBD, inclusive of the brand and investment in the business, while remaining committed to the open source community," the spokesperson added.

The company announced in April that it had completed designing its three-nanometer mining chip and that it will build a full bitcoin mining system in support of mining decentralization. In July, Block partnered with Core Scientific in a deal to supply the bitcoin mining firm with Block’s latest mining chips. 

Block reported $5.98 billion in revenue for the third quarter, falling short of analysts’ estimate of $6.24 billion, according to CNBC. Its stock initially plunged around 10% to $66 in after-hours trading on Thursday after the news but has since recovered to around $73.95, according to Google Finance.

Dorsey, the co-founder of social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), co-founded Square as a mobile payments firm in 2009. Since rebranding to Block in 2021, the company has shifted its focus toward decentralized technology and cryptocurrency.

Updated with comments from Block spokesperson.