Music Streaming? Why Bother When You Can Mine Bitcoin — Block Scales Back Investment in Tidal

Photo Credit: Vasilis Chatzopoulos

In a shareholder letter on Thursday, Jack Dorsey’s Block confirmed it is scaling back investment in TIDAL in favor of mining Bitcoin.“We are scaling back our investment in TIDAL and winding down TBD,” Block told shareholders in the letter. TBD is a Bitcoin-focused arm of the company that focused on building out a new, decentralized internet. “This gives us more 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.”

Another wrinkle in this puzzle is that Block staffers were apparently ordered by executives not to discuss prominent board member Jay-Z. Staffers received warnings from management that they should avoid mentioning Jay-Z on internal company communication like email or Slack. Jay-Z is one of Block’s nine board members after TIDAL was acquired by Block in 2021.

Last week, TIDAL experienced layoffs from its small team, while it is expected that “scaling back investment” may result in more layoffs. TBD was also impacted by those layoffs before being shuttered entirely by Block. Will that be the fate of Tidal?The order not to mention Jay-Z on internal communications came as employees began questioning his role in Block’s board—especially as the allegations against Diddy have reached a fevered pitch. Both Jay-Z and Diddy have collaborated frequently on music and have been photographed together multiple times over the years.

Fortune reports that shortly after Block employees were warned away from mentioning Jay-Z, Jack Dorsey held a virtual all hands meeting. Block employees are usually encouraged to ask questions—even anonymously—during these meetings.

For this particular meeting however, Dorsey turned off the ability for employees to ask anonymous questions. Those present on the call said Dorsey kicked off the meeting by complaining about negativity from his staff. Dorsey told them to answer the question “why are you happy you’re here?”