Jack Dorsey: ‘TBD’ Will Be Open Platform for Decentralized Bitcoin Exchanges

“We believe Bitcoin will be the native currency of the internet. While there are many projects to help make the internet more decentralized, our focus is solely on a sound global monetary system for all,” Mike Brock, the TBD lead at Square said.

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • “This is the problem we’re going to solve: make it easy to fund a non-custodial wallet anywhere in the world through a platform to build on- and off-ramps into Bitcoin. You can think about this as a decentralized exchange for fiat,” Brock said.
  • The platform will be developed in the public and open-sourced and open-protocol for any crypto wallet to use it, Brock said

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey said that Square’s new business, TBD, will be created to help “build an open platform to create a decentralized exchange for bitcoin,” he wrote in a tweet Friday. 

Loading Tweet..

The concept for TBD, which is held under the twitter handle TBD54566975, was “born” on July 15, as a new business for the digital payments service company Square, Dorsey previously announced. 

“Square is creating a new business (joining Seller, Cash App, & Tidal) focused on building an open developer platform with the sole goal of making it easy to create non-custodial, permissionless, and decentralized financial services. Our primary focus is #Bitcoin. Its name is TBD,” Dorsey tweeted in July. 

Mike Brock, the TBD lead at Square, said in a tweet Friday that there has been a lot of speculation about what TBD is and isn’t, but shared a handful of details about what direction the company will be going in. 

“We believe Bitcoin will be the native currency of the internet. While there are many projects to help make the internet more decentralized, our focus is solely on a sound global monetary system for all. But including all requires a few pieces we think are missing,” Brock said.

Brock added that getting bitcoin typically involves exchanging fiat at a centralized custodial service like CashApp or Coinbase, but there are a number of issues at these on-and-off ramps. 

“This is the problem we’re going to solve: make it easy to fund a non-custodial wallet anywhere in the world through a platform to build on- and off-ramps into Bitcoin. You can think about this as a decentralize exchange for fiat,” Brock said. 

The platform will be developed in the public and open-sourced and open-protocol for any crypto wallet to use it, he said. “Permissionless or bust,” Brock added. 

While the company now moves in this direction, there are still “gaps” ahead with regards to cost and scalability as well as the ability to create an exchange infrastructure between digital assets, like stablecoins, Brock said. 

Dorsey has been a vocal supporter of bitcoin and digital assets in the past. In late July, Dorsey said that bitcoin would become a big part of Twitter’s future and labeled the cryptocurrency as one of the three major trends most relevant to the company, Blockworks previously reported.  

Additionally, Dorsey confirmed in early July that Square was moving forward with plans to build a hardware wallet for bitcoin after hinting about the possibility in early June. The decision was announced in a tweet by Jesse Dorogusker, the hardware lead and TIDAL lead at Square. 

Similar to the announcement about TBD’s direction, Dorsey said the wallet would be “entirely in the open” and would be “an inclusive product that brings a non-custodial solution to the global market,” making bitcoin for everyone.

Want more investor-focused content on digital assets? Join us September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket. Buy it now.

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Strive board member Ben Werkman expects thousands of firms to hold BTC, if only “to protect themselves”

article-image

To date, 12.6 million humans have scanned at a World Orb

article-image

One small step for man, one giant leap for Bitcoin

article-image

Jay Woods, Chief Global Strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, said it would be “very rare” for an acquisition to happen since the IPO may occur as soon as next week

article-image

Sponsored

Money is one of the most consequential pieces of infrastructure, and M0 believes its architecture should serve builders, not extract from them

article-image

The financial backwaters they laughed at might be the only thing keeping the dollar afloat