Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_61e0c9487d746" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Following its merger with buy now pay later firm Afterpay, Jack Dorsey&#8217;s Block will list on the Australian Securities Exchange on January 20</li>
 <li>The move marks a significant first for a crypto-related company to be listed in the country and paves the way for similar companies to feature on the ASX, according to the exchange&#8217;s Group Executive of Listings </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The newly merged Block, formerly Jack Dorsey&#8217;s Square (SQ), and buy now pay later firm Afterpay is expected to begin trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) later this month, marking a major first in the bourse&#8217;s history to list a cryptocurrency-related company.



Following <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/jack-dorseys-square-to-change-its-name-to-block/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Square&#8217;s rebranding</a> to Block Inc in December, the financial-services company <a href="https://www.afr.com/markets/equity-markets/asx-prepares-for-most-important-listing-in-200-years-20211231-p59l2t" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> last Friday it had bought Australia&#8217;s Afterpay and had concluded a month-long delay for approval by the Bank of Spain on Wednesday.



The merged company is expected to trade via the ASX on January 20 under the ticker (SQ) while Afterpay (APT) shares will be suspended from trading the day before. The move marks a significant first for a crypto-related company to be listed in the country, which was made possible through its purchase of the buy now pay later firm.



Square, which owns the crypto peer-to-peer&nbsp;payment service CashApp, posted earnings exceeding $1.1 billion in gross profits for Q3, 2021, according to a recent <a href="https://s29.q4cdn.com/628966176/files/doc_financials/2021/q3/SQ-3Q-2021-Shareholder-Letter.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shareholder letter</a>. Buy now pay later firms have risen to prominence within Australia in recent years and offer customers the ability to pay for goods and services in installments instead of incurring the full cost upfront.



Caroline Bowler, CEO of Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets, told Blockworks the move was welcome news for the ASX and the Australian blockchain community.



&#8220;The industry here has irreversibly moved forward,&#8221; said Bowler. &#8220;Happily for the ASX, there are a significant number of quality Australian companies in this space. This is an opportunity for the exchange to become a real powerhouse in the sector.&#8221;



Max Cunningham, Group Executive of Listings at the ASX told the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/block-debut-opens-the-asx-gates-for-other-crypto-listings-20220112-p59nmq.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sydney Morning Herald</a> on Wednesday, the exchange was establishing a framework for other companies backed by blockchain to debut by the middle of this year.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We are moving on it and our goal is to bring investment-grade opportunities in various crypto asset classes to the ASX in the coming months and years,” said Cunningham.</blockquote>



Cunningham also said his exchange wanted to ensure cryptos had an &#8220;appropriate level of maturity and security&#8221; when they hit the traditional market, according to the report.



The ASX has also been seeking to replace its outdated Clearing House Electronic Subregister System with a blockchain-based one, currently in its testing phase, and is expected sometime in the next two years.



Square&#8217;s shares were down 5.86% by the end of the daily closing bell in the US while Afterpay&#8217;s share price was also down by 7.74% by press time.



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Afterpay

Jack Dorsey’s Block to List on Australia’s ASX in First Major Crypto Listing in Exchange’s History

Sam Reynolds

<div id="highlights-block_6108156b603cc" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Square reported triple-digit gains in bitcoin revenue on-year, despite a quarterly decline in revenue</li>
 <li>A $29 billion takeover of Austria-based Afterpay allows consumers to finance the purchase of retail goods at interest rates less than credit cards</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



In a second quarter shareholder letter released over the weekend, Square reported that its revenue from bitcoin-related services was up 200% on-year but down quarter-over-quarter because of market trends.&nbsp;



Square said that the Cash App generated $2.72 billion of bitcoin revenue and $55 million of bitcoin gross profit during the second quarter of 2021.



Overall, Square’s Cash App generated $3.33 billion of revenue and $546 million of gross profit, according to the shareholder letter. Excluding all bitcoin-related revenue, Cash App generated $606 million in revenue during the quarter.&nbsp;



However, this last quarter’s bitcoin bear market — which saw the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-crash-when-musk-the-environment-tax-day-and-china-collide/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">price of bitcoin fall dramatically</a> in May and linger in the low-$30k range — hit Square’s quarterly revenue growth hard. The company said the “relative price stability” of crypto post-crash was a turn-off for traders and caused Square to post an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-02-09/tesla-s-bitcoin-bet-is-a-bean-counter-s-nightmare" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">impairment loss</a> on its books of $45 million, as the value of bitcoin had declined below its purchase price. 



“In future quarters, bitcoin revenue and gross profit may fluctuate as a result of changes in customer demand or the market price of bitcoin,” Square reported.



As of the quarter that ended June 30, the “fair value” value of the company’s bitcoin was $281 million according to the shareholder letter. Square recently bought 3,318 bitcoin in February for $170 million.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Afterpay acquisition</h3>



Separately, Square announced that it had initiated a $29 billion takeover of Austria-based Afterpay, paying $92.65 per share.



Afterpay offers a “buy now, pay later” service that allows consumers to finance the purchase of retail goods at interest rates less than credit cards. This service is expected to be integrated into Cash App’s merchant suite, allowing users to initiate lines of credit similar to PayPal’s “pay later” function.&nbsp;



In a note, Compass Point Research’s Michael Del Grosso gave Square’s stock a “neutral” rating, questioning the $29 billion purchase price and wondering if there wasn’t an “alternative way to do this deal.”