Almost a million users bought bitcoin for the first time last month through Cash App,?Square’s mobile payment service that allows users to invest in cryptocurrency, Square CFO Amrita Ahuja told CNBC.?
To add on, three million people transacted in bitcoin through Cash App last year. In the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, Cash App generated $1.76bn of bitcoin revenue and $41m of bitcoin gross profit, up ten and 13 times compared to the previous year respectively, the firm said.
Ahuja’s comment comes a day after Square increased its bitcoin investment as part of the firm long-term plan by $170m purchasing 3,318 more coins.?With 8,027 bitcoins in total which are now valued at around $400m as of Wednesday’s price,?the digital coin now represents 5% of the company’s total cash holdings.
“We’re going to evaluate this investment on an ongoing basis. We’ll be dynamic. We’ll respond to the market environment, but ultimately that long-term vision is what we’re investing into,” Ahuja said.
The sudden spike in interest for the digital asset on the Cash App coincides with bitcoin continued upside graph. Last week the digital coin topped $58,000 touching an all-time high and?reached $1tn in market capitalisation. Even with its constant volatility, bitcoin is up by more than 400% in the last 12 months.
“We feel that bitcoin is aligned with our purpose, which is economic empowerment,” Ahuja said. “Economic empowerment is about bringing access to financial tools more broadly, including to people who haven’t had it before. We think bitcoin is a way that could enable that for the future.”
Square founder Jack Dorsey has been a long-standing advocate of the cryptocurrency and believes it will soon evolve to be the?world’s “single currency”. Cash App enabled its users to trade bitcoin back in January 2018 to achieve its goal of providing “greater financial access for all.” At the time, bitcoin was witnessing a massive upswing hitting its then record high of $20,000.
Square is hardly the only company placing a high stake in the crypto space. Other companies include?Tesla, which recently bought $1.5bn worth of bitcoin. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor?said?the firm had accumulated more than $1.3bn worth of the cryptocurrency.
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