If you’re watching Thursday’s House hearing on disinformation, where Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are witnessing, you may have noticed a watch-like device displayed highlighted on Dorsey’s right shoulder. (It’s hard not to notice – aside from Dorsey, a window and some household items, it’s basically the only other thing in the frame.) But the device doesn’t seem to be showing the time – or at least, I didn’t see that. So what is it?
It’s a bitcoin watch. Specifically, Coinkite’s $ 399 mini BlockClock. If you are, at least tangentially, aware of Dorsey’s love for bitcoin, this will come as no surprise.
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Dorsey is a immense bitcoin fan:
Dorsey seems to be interested in blockchain-based things in general, having just auctioned off his first tweet as an NFT for almost $ 3 million. (He donated the proceeds to charity.)
As for the mini BlockClock, it can actually show the time, but it is also a Wi-Fi enabled device that can also show the current price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency-related data. “Track the exchange prices, see the blocks as they are published by the mining companies and connect Opendime to display the balance, fiduciary amount and QR deposit codes,” says a description at the Coinkite store. (The current price of bitcoin is over $ 52,000 at the time of this writing, if you are wondering.)
If you fell in love with the mini BlockClock after seeing it at Dorsey’s desk, you may not get it right away. Coinkite lists it as a “long-term item” and notes in the watch’s description that “delivery times may vary – no delivery date is guaranteed due to high demand”. The device’s main website also has a big “Book now <3” button that points to the Coinkite store, which does not fill me with confidence.
In addition, it costs $ 399.