Block’s making a crypto-music-payment “ecosystem,” but it may be too visionary for today’s market

The Block Head has spoken… and he says crypto concert tix are the future. Jack Dorsey, “Block Head” at Block (translation: CEO at the biz formerly known as Square) just outlined plans for the company’s future. Block’s changed a lot since its last investor day five years ago: it bought Jay-Z’s music streamer Tidal for $300M last year and fintech Afterpay for $29B this year. Here’s what’s next:

• Not your grandma’s card-reader biz: Dorsey said Block’s not a payment company but an “ecosystem” spanning fintech, music, and crypto.
• Bullish on BTC: Block’s building bitcoin wallets, mining systems, and developer tools because Dorsey believes bitcoin will become the internet’s native currency.
• Banking on Gen Z: Block wants to be a payment superapp for younger users. Think: buying Kendrick Lamar tickets and crypto, all inside the Cash App (Block’s Venmo rival).

There are plenty of ways to pay… but Block’s superapp strategy could distinguish it from a crowded payments field. The company started in 2009 as a point-of-sale disruptor, selling those swipe-y consoles used by your local coffee shop. But since then, Toast, Clover, and others have launched competitors, and now Apple’s reportedly testing a tap-to-pay iPhone feature that could blow up the industry.