Square sold more than $ 166 million worth of bitcoin in 2018



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Square, the unicorn of payments headed by Jack Dorsey, a strong supporter of Bitcoin, reported a profit Wednesday night higher than analysts' forecasts, but was below expectations.

At the last control, stocks fell 6% to $ 74 per share after trading hours. Last year, the company allowed Bitcoin to buy and sell on its platform Cash App, a rival of PayPal Venmo. Despite Dorsey's bullish stance – the billionaire said that bitcoin could be the future of money – Square does not hold a lot of bitcoin in its own balance sheet, said Amrita Ahuja, chief financial officer at the time. call for results.

The company holds a "very small amount" of bitcoins, said Mr Ahuja, pointing out that keeping some of the cryptography allowed "to add some liquidity, but our goal is not to keep a lot on the balance sheet. "

While the dollar value of quarterly bitcoin purchases increased by approximately 22% from the third quarter (up about 52% from the first quarter), The Block's research shows that the amount of bitcoin Purchased equity rose approximately 70% from the third to the fourth quarter, and up to 200%. since the first quarter, taking the denominator as the average quarterly bitcoin price. In total, the company sold more than $ 166 million worth of bitcoins in 2018 and $ 52.5 million this quarter.

Dorsey added that the company was acting quickly to ensure the "quality" of its customers, and later said in the call: "Bitcoin for us is not limited to buying and selling, we believe that it is a transformative technology for our industry and better access to the financial system, so we will have a learning mentality and make sure we learn and direct the sector from here. "

"Internet deserves a local currency; it will have a local currency, "said Dorsey at an industry conference in New York in May.

"I do not know if it will be Bitcoin or not," said Dorsey, adding, "I hope that will be the case".

Update: A previous version of this message incorrectly attributed comments to the company's previous CFO, Sarah Friar.

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