Square’s product chief on the death of the penny and the future of money

Today, I’m talking with Willem Avé, who’s the head of product at Square. You know Square — it was started by billionaire Jack Dorsey of Twitter fame more than 15 years ago, and it got big on the back of that little magnetic reader that once plugged into the headphone jack of the iPhone and let small businesses accept credit cards.

Nowadays, of course, Square is more than a credit card reader, and sadly, the headphone jack is ancient history. The company itself is now part of parent organization called Block, which is made up of a very interesting mix of financial services like Afterpay, Cash App, and, yes, the streaming music service Tidal. So Willem and I really got into where Square is headed next with AI and automation, why he’s excited about crypto and Bitcoin specifically, and even what it means that the US is discontinuing the penny. 

Links: 

• Square’s public roadmap | Square
• Jack Dorsey is reorganizing the entirety of Block | Fortune
• How Block turned Square into a financial services giant | Fast Company
• Block to roll out bitcoin payments on Square | Square
• Square buys $170 million worth of bitcoin | CNBC
• Square, Jack Dorsey’s payments company, changes its name to Block | NYT
• The penny dies at 232 | NYT

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Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane. 

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