Jack Dorsey’s fintech startup Block (formerly known as Square) disclosed its gross profit for Q4 2021 stood at $1.18 billion, which is an increase of 47% year over year. In addition, the company’s sellers have adopted more of Square’s ecosystem over time, the firm added.
Exceeding Results
The American financial services and digital payments company – Block, Inc. – announced its revenue for the past year totaled $4.42 billion. In comparison, analysts estimated this number to be $4.01 billion. The results are up 62% year over year as revenue from bitcoin purchases represented $1.96 billion of that number.
Gross profits for Q4 were also impressive, at $1.18 billion, up 47% over the same period a year ago. Specifically, cash app gross profits totaled $518 million, while Square gross profits accounted for $657 million.
In line with the good results, Block’s stocks spiked by more than 40% in a matter of 24 hours. The SQ shares closed on Friday at approximately $120.
This financial report was also the first since Jack Dorsey resigned as Twitter’s CEO and is now only engaged with Block’s mission.
Earlier this year, the organization acquired the Australian fintech company Afterpay. “We believe this acquisition will further Block’s strategic priorities for Square and Cash App by strengthening the connections between our ecosystems,” it stated.
Block’s Crypto Initiatives
In October 2021, Dorsey revealed plans that Block (called Square at that time) could create a bitcoin mining system. The network would use “custom silicon” (specially customized ASICs) and open-source development. The American believes mining needs to be more energy-efficient, and as such, it is a challenging niche.
His company’s initiative aims to establish technical integrations in the industry by “prototyping more efficient silicon, hashing algorithms, and power architectures.”
Shortly after, Square dived deeper into the digital asset sector by investing $75.5 million to acquire a 35% stake at the crypto exchange Korbit. By doing so, Dorsey’s firm became the second-largest shareholder at the Korean trading venue falling behind Nexon’s holding company NXS, which owns 48%.
In December 2021, the payments platform changed its name to Block, expanding its focus further to the blockchain universe. The CEO commented that this is a “new name, but our purpose of economic empowerment remains the same.”
This event coincided with Dorsey’s resignation as Twitter’s top executive. It is worth noting that he said last year:
“If I were not at Square or Twitter, I would be working on Bitcoin. If it needed more help than Square or Twitter, I would leave them for Bitcoin. But, I believe that both companies have a role to play.”
