By Allison Prang

Square Inc. reported a hefty pop in revenue in the first quarter because of bitcoin.

The payments company's revenue was $5.06 billion, up from $1.38 billion a year ago. That was higher than Wall Street's consensus of $3.34 billion according to FactSet. The increase was fueled by a more than $3 billion increase in bitcoin revenue.

Square's earnings were $39 million, or 8 cents a share. A year earlier, the company's loss was $105.9 million, or 24 cents a share. Adjusted earnings were 41 cents a share, while analysts were expecting 17 cents a share for the adjusted earnings.

Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-06-21 1632ET