Square CFO says ‘There’s Absolutely A Case For Every Balance Sheet To Have Bitcoin On It’

“There's absolutely a case for every balance sheet to have Bitcoin on it,” says Square Chief Financial Officer Amrita Ahuja.

In an interview with Fortune, published today, Ahuja, who joined the payments company in January 2019, talked about the trillion-dollar asset. Square invested $50 million in October 2020 with an additional $170 million just last month.

“The investment that we made on our balance sheet for Bitcoin represents about 5% of our cash; we intend to hold for the long term here,” Ahuja said. The company will further evaluate its strategy “on an ongoing basis based on how the Bitcoin ecosystem evolves.”

What MicroStrategy started by putting Bitcoin on its balance sheet was taken forward by Square and then solidified by Tesla’s $1.5 billion investment, accelerating the institutional trend.

These big names induced a never seen before FOMO among institutions, making BTC part of the investment portfolios and treasuries. Last week, we saw TIME magazine hiring a CFO who has “comfort with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.”

Square has also made a $10 million investment initiative to accelerate the adoption of clean energy in Bitcoin mining. According to Dorsey, Bitcoin “will eventually be powered completely by clean power, eliminating its carbon footprint and driving adoption of renewables globally.”

Company CEO Jack Dorsey, also the co-founder and CEO of Twitter, is a Bitcoin proponent who believes the cryptocurrency could one day become the currency of the Internet.

“We see Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as expanding access to financial services, especially when you think more globally.”

Square first got involved in Bitcoin in 2018 when it allowed users to buy Bitcoin on its Cash App. This month, the company announced a new feature allowing users to send or receive Bitcoin for free and instantly.

Ahuja also reiterated that last year they had 3 million customers buying and selling Bitcoin (BTC) on Cash App, and in January, they had 1 million new customers to the cryptocurrency alone.

She further said Square would continue to support the broader adoption and awareness of the leading cryptocurrency.