Dorsey-led Block posts quarterly loss on bitcoin slump; shares drop

Aug 4 (Reuters) – Jack Dorsey-led Block Inc (SQ.N) on Thursday reported a loss for the second quarter as a bruising selloff in cryptocurrency markets hurt the fintech company's earnings from bitcoin trades on its platform.

Shares of Block, formerly called Square, fell nearly 6% after market hours.

Bitcoin prices slumped about 36% in the quarter, under pressure from regulatory hurdles, rising interest rates and the Ukraine crisis that have walloped investor appetite for riskier assets.

That sent Block's bitcoin revenue down 34% to $1.79 billion. Total revenue fell 6% to $4.4 billion.

Net loss attributable to common stockholders came in at $208 million, or 36 cents per share, in the quarter ended June 30, compared with a profit of $204 million, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, it reported a profit of 18 cents, beating analysts' estimates of 17 cents a share, according to data from Refinitiv.

Rival payments giant PayPal (PYPL.O) earlier this week reported better-than-expected earnings and raised its annual profit guidance.

Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath

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Source:www.reuters.com