Dorsey's Square to buy Australia fintech Afterpay for $29 billion

Twitter boss Jack Dorsey also founded Square, which is acquiring Australia's Afterpay for $29 billion

Twitter boss Jack Dorsey also founded Square, which is acquiring Australia's Afterpay for $29 billion

Jack Dorsey's Square unveiled a record $29 billion deal to snap up Australia's fast-growing buy-now, pay-later firm Afterpay, in a major bet on the burgeoning sector, sending its share price soaring Monday.

The Australian fintech was founded six years ago and allows consumers to buy everything from laptops to flights in staggered payments without interest.

"We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible and inclusive."

It currently boasts 16 million customers in Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States.

Australian industry watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has reported that one in five such customers are missing payments.

Afterpay's share surged more than 20 percent on Monday as Sydney's ASX stock market rallied to an all-time high.

Afterpay co-founders Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar said the deal was "an important recognition of the Australian technology sector as homegrown innovation continues to be shared more broadly throughout the world".

In Australia, less than half of all retail transactions under $10 are made in cash, according to the latest figures from the country's central bank, and the pandemic has only accelerated the shift toward mobile payments worldwide.

Cash App has around 70 million active users per year.

Hardware wallets can be used to store digital currency offline, synching with applications for transactions on the internet as needed.

Dorsey reasoned on Twitter that bitcoin is a currency for the masses, and that it is important to provide ways for people to hold it that do not involve entrusting it to outside parties.

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