Why Square Stock fell today

What happened

Actions of Square (NYSE: SQ) fell 7.5% on Wednesday, following the release of fourth-quarter results for the digital payments and financial services company.

So what

Square’s revenue climbed 141% year-over-year to $ 3.2 billion, fueled by surging demand for its Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) business services. Excluding its Bitcoin business, the fintech leader’s revenue rose 23% to $ 1.4 billion.

Notably, Square becomes increasingly profitable as it scales its operations. Its gross profit jumped 52% to $ 804 million, thanks to a 162% increase in Cash App profits. Square’s hugely popular peer-to-peer payment platform saw its active customers doing monthly transactions increase by more than 50% compared to the previous year period.

Now what

The strong performance apparently was not enough for some investors. Perhaps the expectations were just too high for the fintech star. Square’s share price had tripled in the past year ahead of its fourth quarter report, and many investors likely decided to take some profit off the table on Wednesday.

Square also revealed that it bought an additional $ 170 million worth of Bitcoin. With its $ 50 million investment in October, Bitcoin now represents around 5% of Square’s total cash reserves. It is possible that some investors are increasingly concerned about Square’s growing exposure to volatile cryptocurrency.