The financial services and crypto company that’s acquiring Afterpay (ASX:APT) is changing its name from Square to Block.

“Block references the neighborhood blocks where we find our sellers, a blockchain, block parties full of music, obstacles to overcome, a section of code, building blocks, and of course, tungsten cube,” the Jack Dorsey led-company tweeted.

Square will remain the brand of the company’s seller business, with products that enable small merchants to accept credit cards using their smartphones.

Its other brands include the music streaming service Tidal and Square Crypto, which is being renamed Spiral.

“This rebrand reflects their focus on #bitcoin as it continues to grow like a spiral from a single point, encompassing more and more space until it touches everything,” Square tweeted.

Spiral will even be tweeting under SpiralBTC, reflecting its focus on Bitcoin even as many other developers focus on the newer smart contract platforms.


Spiral said it planned to double the number of full-time developers in 2022 as it works to use the Lightning Network to transform Bitcoin “from investment to actual medium of exchange”.

Afterpay deal hits snag

Afterpay meanwhile said today would have to delay Monday’s Scheme Meeting to approve the acquisition until a later date, because the Bank of Spain had still not granted regulatory approval.

“Afterpay and Square are confident that the Bank of Spain condition will ultimately be satisfied,” Afterpay said.

Square presently expects the Bank of Spain approval in mid-January.

All the other regulators have granted their approval.

Afterpay said it would convene Monday’s meeting and then immediately adjourn it until, with the time and date to be determined.

It may proceed with the meeting before the end of the year, even though the Bank of Spain likely won’t have given its approval by then.

Afterpay shares were down 5.4 per cent to $100.75 on a generally dismal day for the tech sector. Xero (ASX:XRO) was down 4.4 per cent to $142.29.

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