Square Surges After Crypto Confusion Hits Trading Desks

• March 05 2018
• Lily Katz, Arie Shapira

Shares of Square Inc. are rallying on what appears to be old news making the rounds on the Internet and on trading floors.

Shares of Square Inc. are rallying on what appears to be old news making the rounds on the Internet and on trading floors.

The stock’s surge may have been prompted by an article from a little-known news site based in Latvia that said Square is “possibly testing an integration with Bitcoin,” according to three traders who declined to be identified. The story, written by contributor Oladapo Olagoke on a website called Cryptona, didn’t seem to contain any new information. Olagoke couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Square Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said in a Jan. 31 tweet that the company is introducing Bitcoin trading for almost all users of its Cash App. Dorsey said in a Feb. 27 earnings call that “Bitcoin, for us, is not stopping at buying and selling.”

The stock climbed as much as 8.7 percent to a record high of $50 in New York Monday, making Square the second-best performer in the Russell 1000 Financial Services Index.

A spokeswoman for Square declined to comment.

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