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Jack Dorsey says the internet will have its own currency one day

At a blockchain conference in New York, the CEO of Twitter and Square stays bullish on digital money.

Ben Fox Rubin Former senior reporter
Ben Fox Rubin was a senior reporter for CNET News in Manhattan, reporting on Amazon, e-commerce and mobile payments. He previously worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and got his start at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Ben Fox Rubin
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
Getty Images

If you're using cryptocurrencies a lot more often in the future, you may have Jack Dorsey to thank for it.

The CEO of both Twitter and Square came to the Consensus blockchain conference in New York on Wednesday to reiterative his enthusiasm for bitcoin and discuss Square's recent work to increase their usage.

"The internet is going to have a native currency, so let's not wait for it to happen, let's help it happen," he said on stage. "I don't know if it will be bitcoin , but I hope it will be."

Square let merchants accept bitcoin in 2014 for payment of goods, but abandoned that plan after few consumers used bitcoin for that reason. Changing gears, Square in January launched a bitcoin buying and selling feature in its Cash app. 

That change highlights bitcoin's many hurdles in becoming a more common payment option, with the cryptocurrency not widely accepted and many people instead opting to hold onto their bitcoins instead of spending them. But Dorsey's continued backing for cryptocurrencies gives the community building up digital money a well-known booster who may draw in more fans.

Square this month said it sold $34.1 million of bitcoin in the first quarter but had to spend $33.9 million to buy the digital currency, netting the company only $200,000 in revenue.

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