Square's fledging bitcoin business accounted for five per cent of the company's turnover in the first quarter, but returned only a miniscule $223,000 profit and an actual loss on the company's bitcoin holdings.
The payments company fully launched the ability to buy and sell bitcoin in its Cash app in January.
While revenues from trading in bitcoin hit an impressive $34 million in the first three months, the cost of buying bitcoin to run the service amounted to £33.9 million.
The company reported $223,000 in profit for the crypto business, but may actually have made a loss due to downward pressure on the value of its bitcoin holdings. Square's bitcoin assets were logged at a value of $200,000 at the end of the first quarter, down from a $300,000 valuation at the end of 2017 due to volatile price swings in cryptocurrency trading.
Excluding bitcoin revenue, total net revenue for the company was $635 million, up 37% year over year.