Jack Dorsey’s Payments Firm ‘Block’ Enables Bitcoin Gifts for Cash App Users

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's Block (formerly Square) will allow the users of Cash App to exchange Bitcoin and stocks as gifts this holiday season. Block is the parent company of Cash App. In a bid to rope in more people to try out this Bitcoin gifting experiment, Block has kept the minimum value of the Bitcoin gift to be as little as $1 (roughly Rs. 77). An announcement about this initiative was officially posted on Twitter.

Cash App in its Twitter announcement said that it is not mandatory for people to actually buy or own any Bitcoin or stock before gifting it to their loved ones via the app.

This September, the Cash App reported 70 million annual transacting users and gross profit worth $1.8 billion (roughly Rs. 13,693 crore) from its markets, the UK and the US.

“Cash App uses advanced security features to protect millions of people and payments each year. From verification locks to data encryption, we take steps to make sure your money and information are safe,” claims Dorsey's app website.

Block and Cash App are, however, not the first digital payment platforms to stitch the crypto element with their services ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities.

PayPal and Coinbase are also allowing users to wrap up crypto assets as gifts and payments for third parties.

In fact, stock and crypto trading platform Robinhood is also expanding its services by adding the crypto gifting feature to its popular app. Still in its Beta version, the feature is presently being tested, Bloomberg reported.

Most platforms that are beginning to offer this crypto-gifting option are based and functional in the US.

In a recent study, crypto financial services firm BlockFi revealed that Americans are actually willing to accept including Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin as gifts this holiday season.