Square Sees Profits From Bitcoin Sales Double in Q2

Mobile payments firm Square said it made $37 million in revenue from bitcoin sales in the second quarter of 2018.

The company released an unaudited quarterly financial report on Wednesday, which indicated it made an overall net revenue of $814 million, 6 percent of which came from the cryptocurrency buying service added to its Cash App late last year.

However, with the cost of facilitating bitcoin purchases mounting to over $36.5 million in the same period, Square again chalked up a small margin of $420,000.

That said, the firm's bitcoin sales profits nearly doubled compared to the first quarter's figure of around $223,000, as previously reported by CoinDesk. Meanwhile, Square disclosed that the carrying value of bitcoin held by itself was $0.4 million as of June 30.

During a conference call on Wednesday, Square's chief financial officer Sarah Friar said the goal of the bitcoin buying service on the Cash App is not "trying to push on the monetization of bitcoin today."

Square added the crypto service in November for a testing phase and then opened it up to consumers in January, allowing users in almost all U.S. states to buy and send bitcoins.

In June, Square received a so-called BitLicense from regulators in the state of New York, inching a step closer to offering the service to all states in the country.

Bitcoin and dollars image via Shutterstock b