San Francisco-based mobile payments firm Square handled $148 million in Bitcoin sales for the third quarter of 2019, an 18.4% increase over the previous quarter when Square’s Bitcoin revenue accounted for $125 million.
The company remains a key driver of mainstream Bitcoin (BTC) adoption because of its popular Cash App and its mission statement, led by founder Jack Dorsey, of supporting BTC payments.
The company’s Q3 earnings report reveals Square generated $1.27 billion in revenue from July 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019.
While Square’s cryptocurrency-related products and services are still not a major source of the company’s income, an increasing number of customers are using the firm’s Cash App to start investing in Bitcoin.
According to a letter to investors,
“First-time bitcoin buyers have approximately doubled.”
In a sector that still struggles to educate the masses about Bitcoin and focuses on making onramps for buying, selling and storing cryptocurrency less complicated and more user-friendly, the company attributes the uptick in Bitcoin sales to a redesign.
“In September, we redesigned Cash App’s customer interface to make the broad portfolio of products more discoverable. This improved layout has driven increased product adoption of Bitcoin and Cash Card: First-time bitcoin buyers have approximately doubled and Cash Card orders have seen a meaningful uplift.”
The company reports that its Bitcoin-related earnings have surged 244% in the past year.
Square also had to absorb $146 million in operating costs for its crypto business, which led to a gross profit of just $2 million on Bitcoin-related sales, about the same as the previous quarter.
Square’s Cash App is now using a new fee structure for Bitcoin-related transactions, presumably in an attempt to generate more profits for the company.
Excluding Bitcoin, Cash App reported strong figures: revenue was $159 million and gross profit was $121 million, growing 115% and 125% year over year, respectively.