Square joins S&P 500

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Block shares jumped nearly 10% in pre-market trading on Monday on news that it will replace oil company Hess Corp in the S&P 500 on 23 July.

Founded in 2009 as Square, Block is best known for its Cash App mobile payments offering and the Square POS unit, which recently added real-time bitcoin transactions.

Block is the second fintech to join the S&P 500 this year, following crypto exchange Coinbase, which replaced Discover Financial Services in May.

In a statement on the S&P move, Square says: “It’s a milestone that reflects the strength of our business and the work of thousands of people building tools to increase access to the economy, across our brands including Square, Cash App, Afterpay, Tidal, Proto, and Bitkey.”