Block's fourth-quarter gross profit was $1.18 billion, up 47% year over year

Block generated a total of $4.42 billion in gross profit in 2021, a year-over-year increase of 62%, but gross profit was only $77 million.

Crypto-friendly digital payments technology company Block, Inc. (formerly Square) reported fourth-quarter gross profit worth $1.18 billion, up 47% from the same period in 2020.

The company, led by bitcoin maximalist Jack Dorsey, has multiple business units, including Cash App, Square, and just acquired buy now pay later (BNPL) company Afterpay. The $29 billion deal was officially completed late last month.

Block released its report for the fourth quarter of 2021 on February 24, and the company disclosed that Cash App and Square saw substantial increases in gross profit, with the two companies generating $518 million and $657 million, respectively, a year-over-year increase of 37% and 54%.

Overall, the company generated gross profit worth $4.42 billion for all of 2021, a 62% year-over-year increase compared to 2020. However, these impressive numbers do have their downsides, as Block's fourth-quarter net income after expenses was only $77 million ($166 million for the full year 2021), suggesting the company has high operating costs .

The company pointed to Cash App's Cash Card and Square's seller ecosystem as the key metric behind the growth in the fourth quarter, noting that in December, Cash Card had more than 13 million active users, with 38% of sellers using the four or four or more of Square's commercial products.

Looking ahead to 2022, Block also highlighted the importance of the Afterpay deal as it will allow the company to significantly scale up its products and services this year. The company said:

“On January 31st, we completed the acquisition of Afterpay, the global Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform. We believe this acquisition will further advance Block’s presence in Square and Cash App by strengthening the connection between our ecosystems. We will provide consumers and merchants with compelling financial products and services.”

Block has been strengthening its presence in the crypto space of late, with Cointelegraph reporting in mid-January that Cash App has integrated the Lightning Network to speed up bitcoin transfers, while Dorsey confirmed that Block is launching an open-source bitcoin mining system .

Dorsey reportedly focused primarily on expanding Block’s crypto initiatives after stepping down from Twitter last November.