Cash app revenue vaulted 11x from a year earlier.

Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) left analysts’ estimates in the dust with its numbers for the first quarter. The payments giant clocked quarterly revenues of $5.1 billion, well above analysts’ consensus of $3.34 billion and last year’s tally of $1.38 billion. It reported adjusted earnings of 41 cents per share, compared to expectations of 17 cents and last year’s loss of 2 cents a share. (MarketWatch)

Cash App the star

Square’s Cash App, which allows users to trade bitcoin and stocks, generated $3.51 in bitcoin revenue, up eleven times from the previous year.

The massive jump in revenue was primarily due to the rally in bitcoin that took the cryptocurrency’s market value to $1 trillion, for the first time ever, during the reporting quarter.

According to Reuters, CEO and Chairman Jack Dorsey views bitcoin as a potential “native currency” for the Internet.

“This is going to be a long-term focus, enabling bitcoin to be a native currency. It removes a bunch of friction for our business, and we believe fully that it creates more opportunities for economic empowerment around the world,” he said.

Cash App is also a cash cow for Square – customers added about 55% more funds to the Cash App in March than they did in February.

Square: Other statistics

• Monthly Cash Card users surpassed 10 million in March
• Weekly Cash Card users nearly doubled compared to the previous year touching 7 million
• Seller gross payment volume rose to $29.8 billion from $24.7 billion a year ago, a growth of 144%.
• In February, Square said it had invested $170 million in bitcoin.

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