Twitter Hires Bitcoin Star, Ridicules Parag Agrawal

On the same day Twitter reportedly hired bitcoin star Robert Lee to replace Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal, the company is renaming a building it once owned in San Francisco to “Square Market,” which it says will be home to the retail bank that may add bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of payment in the future. The code for the one-word change was discovered on Saturday and tweeted by Martin Vieseth, a programmer and member of the hacker group the Qaex Group. Square’s announcement was made online Sunday, and says the new moniker “exemplifies the company’s mobile and payments mentality.” “No other company is better positioned to innovate and change the space – and we’ll use Square Market to help do that,” writes David Naggar, Square’s head of global expansion. Naggar noted that “Square Market is available as part of the Square Cardtronics Cash Card offer, where cardholders can opt to link their Visa or MasterCard to get up to $1,000 credit at hundreds of the CashCard’s top merchants. For merchants, the CashCard expansion gives them even more unique, consumer-focused experience and is an additional way to broaden our capabilities and appeal in brick-and-mortar retail.” The CashCard is now accepting bitcoin. Square says it is also planning to add “other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin to our existing offerings on future cash card and Cash Card-to-cash check programs.” Bitcoin is one of the most unique financial assets, which makes it a natural fit for the mobile payments startup.