Block scales back TIDAL investment and shutters TBD in favor of Bitcoin mining | TechCrunch

Jack Dorsey’s Block is scaling back its investment in TIDAL, the music streaming platform once owned by Jay-Z, according to a shareholder letter on Thursday. Block is also shutting down TBD, a Bitcoin-focused arm of the business that previously set out to build a decentralized internet, dubbed “Web5.” These cuts will free up the company to invest in Bitcoin mining and its crypto wallet.

“We are scaling back our investment in TIDAL and winding down TBD,” said Block in the letter. “This gives us room to invest in our bitcoin mining initiative, which has strong product market fit and a healthy pipeline of demand, and Bitkey, our self-custody wallet for bitcoin.”

These are the latest cost-cutting efforts at the company behind Square and Cash App. Block laid off staffers in recent weeks, according to Fortune, and apparently told employees not to discuss their board member, Jay-Z, in emails or Slack messages.