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Block, formerly known as Square, Inc, detailed a months-long plan during its earnings call Thursday to buy Bitcoin with 10% of its gross profits from Bitcoin-related products and services.
“In April, Block implemented a Bitcoin dollar cost average (DCA) purchase program that will run through 2024,” the company said in a blog post. “Under the program, Block will be investing 10% of its gross profit from Bitcoin products into Bitcoin purchases.”
Acquiring Bitcoin on a monthly basis is more of a “principled investment approach” than “purchasing Bitcoin in lump sums,” the company said in a so-called corporate blueprint, outlining how Block’s Bitcoin will be stored, insured, and accounted for through 2024.
Meanwhile, the company founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey reported gross profits of $2 billion in the first quarter, up 22% from a year earlier. Revenue in the first quarter came in at nearly $6 billion, rising 19% year-over-year.
A significant chunk of Block’s first-quarter revenue came from Bitcoin sold to customers, totaling $2.7 billion. Along with allowing users of the payments app Cash App to purchase Bitcoin, Block also offers the custodial wallet BitKey and a specialized chip for crypto miners.
The company’s renewed commitment to Bitcoin follows its launch of a service last month that allows companies to convert up to 10% of their revenue into Bitcoin automatically. Leveraging Block’s Square and Cash App in tandem, the firm charges companies a 1% fee from each conversion to Bitcoin made from daily sales.
From coffee shops to street merchants, Square’s business technology platform supports more than four million sellers, processing $209 billion in payments last year. In the first quarter, Block reported that Square processed $50 billion in transactions, up 7% from the same period last year.
Block shares popped as much as 9% post-earnings to $76.59, but the firm’s stock price had settled Friday to $72.17, as of this writing. Down more than 3% over the past week, shares plummeted Wednesday as low as $66.17, amid reports that U.S. prosecutors are investigating Block’s Bitcoin business over alleged compliance lapses.
MicroStrategy founder and Chairman Michael Saylor highlighted Block’s Bitcoin move on Twitter. With a Bitcoin stash worth $14.5 billion, software development firm MicroStrategy has grown into the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin since its first purchase in 2020.
MicroStrategy's trove of 214,000 Bitcoin has been stacked over the course of more than 30 purchases. But prior to Thursday’s announcement, Dorsey’s Block had purchased Bitcoin only twice, despite being an early adopter among Wall Street-traded firms.
Scooping up 4,700 Bitcoin at an average price of $10,600, Block brought Bitcoin onto its balance sheet less than two months after MicroStrategy did. The purchase was followed up in early 2021, when Block dropped $220 million on another 3,300 Bitcoin.
Totaling around 8,000 BTC, the Block’s stash is ranked seventh among publicly traded companies holding the asset, situated behind a few crypto miners, crypto exchange Coinbase (9,480 BTC), and Elon Musk’s Tesla (9,720 BTC), according to Bitcoin Treasuries data.
Edited by Andrew Hayward