Due To The Pandemic, Square Inc's Revenue From E-Commerce Soars 27 Percent

Square Inc is experiencing a surge in revenue due to the pandemic. (photo: doc. square inc)

JAKARTA - Square Inc reported a nearly 60% increase in third-quarter gross profit on Thursday, November 4 driven by a surge in bitcoin transactions on peer-to-peer payment service Cash App.

The payments company, which acquired the US$29 billion buy now, pay later pioneer Afterpay Ltd, posted a US$1.13 billion gross profit in the quarter ended September 30.

In 2009, Twitter owner Jack Dorsey and entrepreneur Jim McKelvey created Square, Inc., to fulfill their dream of creating technology capable of combining merchant services and mobile payments into one easy-to-use service.

Less than a decade later, Square is used by millions of small businesses to accept credit card payments, track sales and inventory, and obtain financing.

So far Square has acquired many companies, including Storehouse, Fastbite, and Kili. The company's main competitors are Google Wallet, Intuit Inc., and PayPal's Venmo.

Cash App now generates $1.82 billion in bitcoin revenue, up 11% from the previous year.

But San Francisco-based Square said bitcoin revenue and gross profit declined from the previous quarter as relative stability in cryptocurrency prices dampened trading activity.

The company, led by Twitter Inc's top boss Jack Dorsey, has benefited in the past year from a surge in pandemic-driven e-commerce demand from people staying at home.

Its gross payment volume, the measure of transactions processed in the Cash App, rose 27% to US$3.7 billion. Total net income jumped 27% to 3.84 billion US dollars.