Block CEO Jack Dorsey briefs Congressional Democrats on bitcoin

Congressional Democrats invited Jack Dorsey, the founder of Block (formerly Square) and Twitter, to talk about bitcoin, The Block has learned.

According to two sources familiar with the matter, Dorsey briefed the Democrats of the House Financial Services Committee during a private Q&A session on March 31.

The Block has obtained notes taken by an attendee of the meeting, which was hosted by the committee but open to other Democratic members and their staffs.

The notes indicate that members asked Dorsey a series of questions related to frequently-cited concerns over crypto. These include Bitcoin's energy consumption, application in money laundering, and limited circulation as a means of payment.

Dorsey referenced changes in the energy mix that powers proof-of-work networks like Bitcoin, the transparency of blockchain-based transactions for investigators, and the growing userbase for crypto in payments outside of the Western world.

The members were also interested in Block's move to focus on bitcoin-based payments.

"We want to build services and don't want to be a Visa or Mastercard. We want to be an open medium for everyone in the world," Dorsey is quoted as saying.

The particulars are familiar discussion points in Congress, with responses that the committee has heard in prior formats, including public hearings. More significant is that such a briefing is happening at all.

Committee Democrats hosted a similar closed discussion on crypto with Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, back in February.

Staff for Financial Services Committee chair Maxine Waters had not returned a request for comment as of publication time.