Square wants to hand out the US government's stimulus package

By Will Heasman

Twitter CEO and Bitcoin advocate Jack Dorsey has urged the Trump administration to use his payments company, Square, to distribute billions of dollars to US citizens rather than the IRS.

As part of the coronavirus rescue package, signed into effect by President Trump on Friday, US citizens will receive a bailout check of $1,200 per person. The government intends to hand out the money by April 6. However, the last time a bailout of this proportion was prescribed—in the fallout of the 2008 recession—payments took months to arrive.bailout

For Dorsey, that's not soon enough.

Square set up its Bitcoin division in March 2019. Image: Shutterstock.

The Twitter CEO said on Thursday that via Square's Cash App, money could be dispensed in just one day and include the unbanked.

“People need help immediately. The technology exists to get money to most people today (even to those without bank accounts). Square and many of our peers can get it done. US government: let us help,” he tweeted, on Thursday.

According to CNN, Square is already in talks with the US treasury, attempting to strike a payment deal.

Square isn't the only company scrambling to help with handouts. CashApp’s rival Venmo is also having discussions with the Treasury.

"They [the US government] know they need to get this money out the door quickly so I think they are open to quicker methods," a source told CNN Business. "Last time they were doing this was 2008 and 2009 and the technology didn't exist as it does today."

Per Reuters, the Internal Revenue Service will administer the coronavirus package. But the agency has struggled to execute even the simplest of tax audits in recent years. In 2001 following President Bush' tax cut, the agency took over six weeks to provide rebates. Similarly in 2008, the IRS spent three months delivering fiscal relief.

And with the most cases of the coronavirus located in the US, the IRS will have its work cut out.

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