Square saw 1 million users buy bitcoin for first time during January’s upswing, CFO says

Square saw 1 million users buy bitcoin for first time during January’s upswing, CFO says

Square's Cash App platform saw a surge in first-time bitcoin buyers last month, CFO Amrita Ahuja told CNBC on Wednesday.

"We had 3 million people transact in bitcoin through Cash App in 2020 and 1 million who were new to bitcoin in January [2021]," Ahuja said on "Squawk Alley," just a day after her company announced it bought more of the world's biggest cryptocurrency with cash on the fintech company's balance sheet.

Cash App is Square's peer-to-peer payment platform, which also allow users to buy and sell assets such as bitcoin and stocks.

The January spike in bitcoin interest among Cash App users coincided with a continued upside move in the digital coin last month. On Jan. 1, bitcoin traded below $30,000 per unit. It hit $40,000 apiece for the first time about a week later, although it mostly retreated in value during the second half of January.

Bitcoin topped $58,000 for an all-time high Sunday after making its first trip above $50,000 last week. Even with solid gains Wednesday, a big sell-off earlier this week, took bitcoin below $50,000. However, Bitcoin is still up more than 70% year-to-date and over 400% in the last 12 months.

Square began allowing nearly all its users to buy