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Square Joins Open Invitation Network to Limit Cryptocurrency Litigation
The network asks its members to pledge royalty-free access to patents for open source technology.
By Eli Tan
Updated May 11, 2023, 5:45 p.m. Published Sep 14, 2021, 8:01 p.m.
Square has joined the Open Invention Network (OIN), a global patent non-aggression consortium, the payment giant announced Tuesday.
- The OIN, originally created to protect the Linux operating system from patent litigation, reduces patent lawsuits over cryptocurrencies by having its members pledge royalty-free access to patents for open source technology.
- The idea is to avoid extended legal battles over the core technologies that underlie the new digital currencies, Max Sills, counsel at Square, told Bloomberg. This includes technologies such as the Linux kernel and hadoop.
- Square last year created the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), in which members pledge not to sue each other specifically over crypto technology patents, except for defensive purposes.
- Square has become extremely involved with bitcoin, adding hundreds of millions of dollars the cryptocurrency to its balance sheet, as well as offering its customers the ability to buy and sell bitcoin.
- Square CEO Jack Dorsey recently previewed plans to build a decentralized bitcoin exchange, and has also indicated that Square is building its own bitcoin hardware wallet.
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What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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A16z Crypto to Open Seoul Office, Hire Sungmo Park to Lead Asia Efforts
Andreessen Horowitz's crypto venture capital unit pointed to high levels of crypto ownership in South Korea and Singapore, and growing onchain activity in Japan.
What to know:
- Venture fund a16z crypto is opening its first office in Asia, located in Seoul, and named Sungmo Park to lead it.
- The Seoul office aims to build partnerships and accelerate community growth across the region.
- South Korea's active onchain community and developer ecosystem probably influenced the fund's decision to choose Seoul over other Asian financial hubs.
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