By CCN.com: Square, the $32.7 billion mobile payment company founded by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, is one step closer to launching its long-awaited crypto project. The company claimed last night that bitcoin mass adoption is “inevitable” and it is close to making its first hire.

Took some time but getting there https://t.co/YpngV9u5Ic — jack (@jack) May 21, 2019

Everything we know about Square Crypto so far

In March 2019, Square CEO Jack Dorsey announced his company would hire three or four developers and a designer to work on the open-source Bitcoin ecosystem.

#BitcoinTwitter and #CryptoTwitter! Square is hiring 3-4 crypto engineers and 1 designer to work full-time on open source contributions to the bitcoin/crypto ecosystem. Work from anywhere, report directly to me, and we can even pay you in bitcoin! Introducing @SqCrypto. Why? — jack (@jack) March 20, 2019

Many Bitcoin developers are volunteers, but Dorsey wants to fund the growth of Bitcoin directly through Square Crypto.

Are you currently contributing to bitcoin-core or other crypto ecosystem projects for free in your off-time? We’d like to pay you to do it full-time. If interested, DM @SqCrypto, and follow for updates on our progress. Thank you! — jack (@jack) March 20, 2019

Square already has a stake in the cryptocurrency world. Its Cash App allows users to buy and sell bitcoin, a feature that pulled in $65 million revenue for the company last year. Square is the first and only publicly traded company to support bitcoin purchases.

Square Crypto will focus on what’s best for the crypto community

Dorsey claims the Square Crypto initiative is not a commercial pursuit, but an attempt to give back to the bitcoin community.

“Last week I was considering my hack week project, and asked @brockm: “what is the most impactful thing we could do for the bitcoin community?” His answer was simple: “pay people to make the broader crypto ecosystem better.” This resonated with me immediately, so we’re doing it.”

Back in San Francisco and meeting our first candidate for @sqcrypto today — jack (@jack) April 5, 2019

Dorsey began meeting with potential developers in April after ‘Crypto Twitter’ threw out suggestions. Among the candidates suggested were various Bitcoin Core developers and members of the BTCPayServer. Although the new recruits will report directly to Dorsey, he maintains that their purpose is to improve the bitcoin ecosystem, not make money for Square.

“These folks will focus entirely on what’s best for the crypto community and individual economic empowerment, not on Square’s commercial interests. All resulting work will be open and free.”

Lightning Network integration?

The bitcoin community has speculated that Square Crypto will work on integrating the Lightning Network, a second-layer protocol designed for instantaneous bitcoin payments.

Dorsey invested $2.5 million in Lightning Labs, a startup developing on the Lightning Network. He also took part in the Lightning Network “torch” experiment, passing a micro-amount of bitcoin to Lightning Labs co-founder Elizabeth Stark.

Better design and user experience for bitcoin?

Exact details of the Square Crypto project have been closely guarded, but one common theme is accelerating design and UX. Dorsey will hire one full-time designer to focus on UX and the official Square Crypto Twitter account said that “mass adoption is impossible without great design.”

There’s a reason why many of the brightest minds from CS to economics and beyond have dedicated their careers to crypto. That said, mass adoption is almost impossible without great design. One of our goals is to accelerate the role of UX design in crypto. 🧠👁🌀 — Square Crypto (@sqcrypto) April 15, 2019

Dorsey himself said that design is an underfunded part of the crypto ecosystem, and crucial introducing people to the technology.

Why add a designer into the mix? I believe this is an underfunded area in the crypto ecosystem. Great design will help more people access this technology faster and better. And we want to see more work to educate, like this: https://t.co/3hBdEDLk3e — jack (@jack) March 20, 2019

Dorsey going all-in on bitcoin?

In the last year, Dorsey has ramped up his engagement with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. He appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast saying that he’s a huge fan of bitcoin.

“The internet deserves a native currency; it will have a native currency. I don’t know if it will be Bitcoin or not. Hope it will be.”

Since then he revealed he was maxing out the Cash App bitcoin buying limit, effectively spending $10,000 a week on cryptocurrency. As for Square Crypto, the project’s Twitter account has reminded everyone to dial down their expectations. Big things are coming, it says, but it will take time.