Square to Spend $5M on Solar-Powered Bitcoin Mining Facility

Square (SQ) has teamed up with blockchain technology firm Blockstream to build a solar-powered bitcoin mining facility. Square will fund the project’s cost of $5 million while Blockstream will contribute its expertise to build and manage the facility.

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The proposed project is an effort to demonstrate that typically electricity-intensive bitcoin mining operations can be powered with 100% renewable energy. The facility will be located at a Blockstream site in the U.S.

“We hope to show that a renewable mining facility in the real world is not only possible but also prove empirically that Bitcoin accelerates the world toward a sustainable future,” Blockstream said in a blog post.

The parties plan to provide regular updates on the project’s economics. Additionally, they will set up an online portal to stream real-time metrics of the facility’s performance. For example, people will be able to view the project’s electricity output and the amount of bitcoin mined. Square and Blockstream hope the project will become a model for other businesses running bitcoin mining operations.

Square is a digital payments company that enables sellers to manage their business. It has been deeply involved with bitcoin, investing millions of dollars into cryptocurrency and supporting its trading via its Cash App. (See Square stock analysis on TipRanks)

Following the release of Square’s first-quarter results, Wells Fargo analyst Timothy Willi reiterated a Hold rating on the stock with a price target of $255, which implies 17.54% upside potential.

“On an underlying basis, we believe performance was stronger than expected, and anticipate this momentum to continue forward,” noted Willi. The analyst raised Square’s EPS estimates for both 2021 and 2022.

Consensus among analysts is a Moderate Buy based on 17 Buys, 5 Holds, and 2 Sells. The SQ average analyst price target of $286.87 implies 32.23% upside potential to current levels.

According to TipRanks’ Hedge Fund Trading Activity tool, confidence in SQ is currently Very Positive. The cumulative change in holdings across all 21 funds that were active in the last quarter was an increase of 592,700 shares.