Square gains 10% as the payments company rides bitcoin's record-breaking rise

<p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/6021973567d1e300113c4de8-2400/Square in-store.jpg" border="0" alt="Square in store" data-mce-source="Square" data-mce-caption="In-store transactions grew by 1% year-over-year among Square customers."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Shares of payments company Square surged 10% on Monday after Tesla announced it is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-bitcoin-investment-risks-2021-2">investing $1.5 billion</a> into Bitcoin. The electric carmaker also said it may begin accepting the currency as payment, according to a regulatory filing.&nbsp;</p><p>In October 2020, Square<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-square-buys-million-ubiquitious-potential-currency-digital-tech-2020-10'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> announced</a> it had purchased 4,709 <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/btc-usd">bitcoins</a> for an aggregate price of $50 million. The San Francisco-based company paid an average price of $10,617 for each bitcoin.</p><p>Square launched bitcoin trading in 2018 with <a href="https://squareup.com/us/en/about/investors/press/2617c157-c2b1-46d7-8277-623c96f3f96c'utm_term=_hlimaq6ptkkfqibbkk0sohzn3m2xph9chdzvuqbz00&amp;irgwc=1&amp;utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_source=impact">Cash App</a>, a platform that enables the buying and selling of bitcoin. Cash App generated <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000119312520286821/d201688dex991.htm#:~:text=Cash%20App%20generated%20%241.63%20billion,actives%20and%20volume%20per%20customer.">$1.63 billion</a> of bitcoin revenue during the third quarter of 2020 and $32 million of bitcoin gross profit. In 2019, the company also established <a href="https://squareup.com/us/en/press/2020-bitcoin-investment#:~:text=Square%20believes%20that%20cryptocurrency%20is,the%20second%20quarter%20of%202020.">Square Crypto</a>, an independent team focused on contributing to bitcoin open-source work.&nbsp;</p><p>"We believe that bitcoin has the potential to be a more ubiquitous currency in the future," said Square's Chief Financial Officer, Amrita Ahuja <a href="https://squareup.com/us/en/about/investors/press/2617c157-c2b1-46d7-8277-623c96f3f96c'utm_term=_hlimaq6ptkkfqibbkk0sohzn3m2xph9chdzvuqbz00&amp;irgwc=1&amp;utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_source=impact">in a statement.</a></p><p>Square is headed by Jack Dorsey, who is a longtime cryptocurrency advocate.&nbsp;Earlier in February, Dorsey reinforced his support for the popular cryptocurrency by launching his own "node," a component in a blockchain's infrastructure that <a href="https://nodes.com/#nodes-definition">guarantees the security and accuracy of data</a> and is crucial to keeping the bitcoin network working.</p><p>On Twitter, the Square founder shared an <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1357588751757627393">image</a> of the node synchronizing with the bitcoin blockchain with the caption: "Running #bitcoin."</p><p>Tesla's bitcoin investment is being looked at as a historic moment the history of the cryptocurrency to date.&nbsp;</p><p>"This moment will likely be looked upon in years to come as a genuine tipping point," Dermot O'Riordan, partner at the blockchain-focused private-equity firm Eden Block, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/elon-musk-tesla-6-crypto-experts-15-bln-investment-bitcoin-2021-2-1030056077">told Insider</a>. "Elon and Tesla's support legitimizes crypto and opens up bitcoin to a whole new class of retail and institutional investors. Now it seems all of Wall Street is in bed with this industry - if they weren't paying attention before, they are now."</p><p>Shares of Square traded at $258.15 at 3:30PM E.T. on Monday. Bitcoin surged to news highs on Monday morning, topping $44,000.</p><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/square-stock-price-gains-10-as-it-rides-bitcoins-record-breaking-rise-2021-2-1030056852#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-symphony-seas-worlds-largest-cruise-ship-deals-with-waste-2020-3">How waste is dealt with on the world's largest cruise ship</a></p>
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