The number of Square users who bought bitcoin for the first time using its Cash app “approximately doubled” during the third quarter of this year.
According to the company’s investor letter published this week, it processed around $148 million worth of bitcoin sales in Q3 2019, with the firm reporting revenues of $1.27 billion in said period.
The company’s bitcoin revenue grew by 244% year-over-year, as Square’s Cash app generated around $43 million in revenue during the third quarter of 2018. Its bitcoin-related costs this past quarter were of $146 million, which means it made a $2 million profit selling BTC.
In total, the Cash App generated $307 million in revenue in Q3. Square credited the app’s success to a new redesign that improved its user interface to “make the broad portfolio of products more discoverable. The letter reads:
This improved layout has driven increased product adoption of Bitcoin and Cash Card: First-time bitcoin buyers have approximately doubled and Cash Card orders have seen a meaningful uplift.
The company also partly credited bitcoin’s outperformance for the growth. Square’s Q4 guidance indicates the firm is expecting to see bitcoin and transaction costs ranging from $575 million to $585 million.
Square has been selling bitcoin to its users since November 2017 and has been making money through it thanks to the spread. It generated $800,000 worth of profit in the first quarter of this year, and $2 million in the next two quarters. To better monetize its BTC sales, it seems to be adding fees.
On the firm’s website, it now acknowledges the Cash App “may charge fees when you buy or sell bitcoin.” Its fees are set to be listed on trade confirmations before transactions are completed.
Square’s CEO Jack Dorsey, who’s also the CEO of Twitter is a well-known bitcoin supporter, as per his own words he sees it as a “long-term path towards greater financial access for all.” Square has even hired full-time engineers to work on the bitcoin and cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Featured image by Blake Wisz on Unsplash.
