The bellwether cryptocurrency surged nearly 7% in 24 hours to $10,071 as of 23:47 UTC (7:47 pm EDT), with most of those gains made in the last 12 hours. The price was flitting on both sides of the $10,000 threshold as of press time.
Bitcoin rallied Thursday on high volumes, trading above $10,000 for the first time since Feb. 24 late in the day.
The rally means investors who purchased bitcoin at the beginning of the year would now be up almost 40% on their investment. The rise comes after a massive crypto market selloff in March, as the economic fallout from COVID-19 battered both traditional and new, alternative financial markets. As of press time, the SP 500 stock index is still down 10% year-to-date.
Larger-than-usual bitcoin buying volumes on spot exchanges like Coinbase rapidly pushed up the price for 1 BTC starting around 13:00 UTC (9AM EDT) Thursday.
Increased discussion around the bitcoin halving, an event expected May 11 which reduces supply generated by miners, has made the world’s oldest cryptocurrency top of mind for many investors. This includes hedge fund legend Paul Tudor Jones, who announced Thursday his $38 billion Tudor Investment Corp. is buying bitcoin futures products to gain exposure to the crypto market as a hedge against expected inflation.
Bitcoin Revenues in Square’s Cash App Top Fiat Revenues for First Time in Q1
Bitcoin has flippened USD on Square’s Cash App, sort of.
As reported in the publicly traded fintech company’s first-quarter earnings report Wednesday, Cash App brought in $222 million on all its other fiat-powered services in Q1. Meanwhile, revenue from bitcoin was $306 million, the first quarter in which bitcoin revenue surpassed all other revenue on the app.
“In the first quarter, Cash App gross profit grew 115% year over year”, the shareholder letter reported.
Gross profit on Cash App, however, remains to be found primarily outside of crypto. Of Square’s $222 million in non-bitcoin revenue, $178 million of that was profit. The Cash App saw one of its best quarters yet for new users in the first quarter of 2020, across its many different services.
Bitcoin profit through Square’s Cash App was $7 million in the first quarter of 2020. It earned $8 million in bitcoin profit through the whole of 2019.
Still, on the revenue side, the year-over-year growth in bitcoin sales was steep.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company noted:
“Bitcoin revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2020 increased by $240.6 million or 367%, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2019. The increase was due to growth in the number of active bitcoin customers, as well as growth in customer demand.”
Total revenue from bitcoin in the first quarter was $306 million, versus $65 million in the first quarter of 2019. Square earned $178 million in bitcoin revenue through the prior quarter, the last of 2019.
Total revenue for Square this quarter was $1.38 billion, roughly 43% over what it earned in the first quarter of last year. Square had $535 million in gross profit for the quarter, but a $105 million net loss.coindesk.com
