Amid a spate of companies reporting positive results from their Bitcoin investments in the third quarter, digital payments giant Square also reported $ 1.81 billion in Bitcoin-generated revenue during that time. The company also expressed interest in expanding its investments and presence in the digital asset industry in its Q3 earnings report.
Square reported an 11% year-over-year increase in Bitcoin sales and gross profit of $ 42 million, which is roughly 2% of Bitcoin sales. While $ 1.81 billion in BTC revenue accounted for 47% of Square’s total revenue, it generated just 3.7% of the company’s gross profit in the third quarter. Both sales and gross profit from the cryptocurrency had declined quarter on quarter compared to the second quarter of 2021.
This was “primarily driven by the relative stability of Bitcoin price, which had an impact on trading activity compared to previous quarters,” the report said. In addition, the report also pointed to the potentially unpredictable BTC gains in the future, stating:
“… Bitcoin sales and gross profit may fluctuate due to changes in customer demand or the market price … as we are seeing strong year-over-year growth rates in the fourth quarter …”
Despite the poor performance, the company’s executives indicated plans to expand their exposure to digital assets. During a corporate results conference call, Square CEO Jack Dorsey commented:
“We also recently formed a company called TBD to build an open developer platform with the sole goal of simplifying the creation of non-custody and license-free and decentralized financial services with a focus on Bitcoin. We plan to share detailed plans with a white paper later this month. “
The whitepaper is slated to be released on Nov. 19, 2021 and aims to lay out a more thorough business plan for TBD, Dorsey said, while expanding the company’s plans to roll out a Bitcoin hardware wallet and mining system for consumers, which it announced last month given.
“Both are focused on helping Bitcoin reach a mainstream audience while strengthening the network and ecosystem. We’ll be building both openly in collaboration with the community, sharing all of our decisions, progress, and questions, each of these long-term opportunities that we’ll learn from over several years. “
All of these digital asset initiatives taken together are expected to further increase the company’s long-term profitability, noted Square CFO Amrita Ahuja in the call, adding:
“TBD, the hardware wallet, and bitcoin mining … we expect they will total about 5% of our incremental increase over the next year for about $ 140 million in total non-GAAP investments. When we look ahead, we are excited to see what the future holds for our company. We pursue a large and growing addressable market. “
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