Square gets a bitcoin boost with revenue up 266%

Square gets a bitcoin boost with revenue up 266%

A trader works the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York.

Square shares rose as much as 4.5% in extended trading on Thursday after reporting fiscal first-quarter earnings that blew past Wall Street's expectations.

Here's how the company did:

First quarter revenue rose to $5.06 billion, up 266% year over year, largely thanks to gains in bitcoin revenue. Net income for the quarter was $39 million.

Square reported $3.5 billion in bitcoin revenue, up eleven times year over year. But bitcoin gross profit was only $75 million, or approximately 2% of revenue.

Gross profit grew 79% year over year to $964 million in the quarter that ended Mar. 31, according to a statement.

Cash App gross profit came in at $495 million, up 171% year over year. In March, Square's peer-to-peer competitor to Venmo began offering customers the ability to instantly send bitcoin for free.

Square itself bought $50 million worth of bitcoin in October and an additional $170 million worth of bitcoin in February. The company said that as of March 31, it had lost $20 million on its bitcoin investment for the quarter, though the fair value of its investment was $472 million, based on observable market prices.

Excluding the after-hours move,