Square’s stock price jumped more than 6% in after-hours trading Thursday, after the payment giant reported first-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations.

The company’s earnings per share came in at 41 cents versus 16 cents analysts had expected, while revenue grew 266% year-over-year to $5.06 billion.

This amazing jump in revenue came mainly from Square’s move to allow customers to buy and sell bitcoin via the Cash app.

Excluding bitcoin revenue, which grew 11 times year over year, the company generated a total of $1.55 billion for the quarter.

The company said in a letter announce On its financial results:

The company has benefited from bitcoin revenue and gross profit from the yearly increase in bitcoin price, bitcoin activity, and growth in customer demand.

Read:PundiX announces its partnership with the Government of Dubai to develop a digital payments system

Square indicated that it earns 2% of bitcoin transactions and that its total cryptocurrency earnings reached $75 million for the first quarter of 2021.

Like PayPal and other fintech giants, Square has had an economic tailwind from cryptocurrencies and also from larger pandemic-related trends that have prompted consumers to abandon cash in favor of e-commerce and digital wallets.

Square has seen the most growth in its business coming from crypto and cash applications activities, but it also has a number of other thriving business units, including commercial loans.

In late 2020 and early 2021, Square bought $220 million worth of bitcoin to add to the company’s balance sheet.

Ironically, those purchases have forced the company to report a $20 million impairment on its books for the current quarter.

Although the market value of the Bitcoin stock in “Square” reached $472 million on March 31, there is a strangeness in the accounting rules that require companies to report a loss when the price of the cryptocurrency falls below the purchase price, but it is not allowed them to report an increase in prices.

Read:The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined the Rivetz crypto project more than $18 million

On Thursday, Twitter – a company with the same founder and CEO of Square – announced a new “tip jar” feature on the platform that allows users to pay each other using a variety of platforms including Venmo and the Cash App. “.

The new feature appears to be a natural fit for cryptocurrency payments, especially given the close ties between Twitter and Square.

Square did not mention the Twitter feature in its earnings report, while Twitter did not immediately respond to a question about when or whether the tip jar feature would include a cryptocurrency option.

Square’s stock was trading at $230 as of 5:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, up from $223 at the market close.

Read also:

DCG Group invests in a cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea

Galaxy Digital acquires BitGo for $1.2 billion