Square (SQ), the company behind the popular Cash app, has recently reported its earnings for the third quarter of this year, and revealed its bitcoin trading revenue was of $43 million. After factoring in bitcoin purchasing costs, the firm had a $555,000 profit from BTC.
Per the company’s report, it beat Wall Street’s expectations, as it posted earnings of $0.13 per share, above the expected $0.11. Similarly, its total revenue was of $431 million, while Wall Street expected it to be of $413.9 million.
The firm’s Cash app, whose profits from bitcoin trading have nearly tripled since the first quarter of the year, has reportedly surpassed PayPal’s Venmo in total downloads. As CryptoGlobe covered, the app was still being frquently downloaded when bitcoin’s price was tumbling.
The app’s bitcoin-related profit likely increased as the Cash app expanded BTC trading to all 50 US states back in August of this year. The move, coupled with increasing adoption of the app itself, helped its results. The company’s CEO Jack Dorsey stated:
We do see people use the Cash App fundamentally as you would expect them to use a bank account. They store money with us, it's accepted anywhere Visa is accepted. They can send and receive money from friends and family
Earlier this year, it was revealed Square quietly moved its bitcoin trading service to over-the-counter (OTC) desks, which according to experts helped it become a more sophisticated trading platform that offers users better protection.
Moving off of public cryptocurrency exchanges, experts claimed at the time, helped the Cash app build a platform that would “create less price volatility when trading large amounts of bitcoin.” Working with brokers likely also helped it get better pricing on the BTC it purchased.
While the flagship cryptocurrency represented a small portion of Square’s $431 million revenue, the company has been working alongside the cryptocurrency community. Last month, the fintech firm publicly shared its source code, developer tools, and documentor for its bitcoin cold storage solution.
Following its earnings call, Square’s shares are notably down 9.2%, as they’re trading at little under $74, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Square’s CEO Jack Dorsey is notably also the CEO of Twitter. Earlier this year he revealed he believes bitcoin will become the world’s “single currency” by 2028, as it is a “transformational technology.”
