This is the inaugural blog in Celent’s new blog series flagging beacons of the crypto economy.

Square has gone three-dimensional and put its stake in the crypto economy by renaming itself Block (effective Dec. 10). It is seeking to remain an innovator and not a legacy—similar to Facebook’s renaming itself Meta and investing heavily in metaverse tech.

Block encompasses Square, CashApp, spiralbtc (formerly Square Crypto, a cryptocurrency exchange), TIDAL (music platform), and TBD54566975 (protocol to bridge DeFi and fiat economies). Block’s overarching goal is “to build simple tools to increase access to the economy.” If you’d like to dive into TBD54566975, the team has published a white paper a la the Bitcoin WP 13! years ago. And if all that rocket Block science wasn't enough, Jay-Z has created Block Vibes, a playlist on TIDAL.

If you’re interested in a DeFi brief and snapshot of Square/Block’s ambition, I’ve summarized both in Mapping the Crypto Galaxy Part 2: Trends in Cryptocurrencies, Stablecoins/CBDCs, and DeFi.