Block stock (SQ) hit a fresh 52-week low on Wednesday, trading as low as $131 per share. The digital payment company’s stock has been on a decline as part of a rotation out of growth and risk assets amid concerns of Fed rate hikes.
The company formerly known as Square is down about 31% since announcing its corporate entity name change to Block, on Dec. 1 of last year.
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On Thursday, Block founder and CEO Jack Dorsey announced the company is “officially building an open bitcoin mining system.”
Dorsey also retweeted a series of tweets from Block’s general manager for hardware, Thomas Templeton, laying out the plan.
“We want to make mining more distributed and efficient in every way, from buying, to set up, to maintenance, to mining,” Templeton wrote, later adding: “We see it as a long-term need for a future that is fully decentralized and permissionless.”
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The company’s rebrand was seen as a nod to the company’s increasing focus on blockchain, the technology which underpins cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC-USD).
Block’s stock performance has moved relatively in tandem with the cryptocurrency, which has been on a decline since its highs in November.
Other crypto-related stocks have also seen declines in the past weeks such as Riot Blockchain (RIOT), Marathon Digital (MARA), and Future Fintech (FTFT).
Jack Dorsey, co-founder & CEO of Square, attends the crypto-currency conference Bitcoin 2021 Convention at the Mana Convention Center in Miami, Florida, on June 4, 2021. This was before the rebrand and Block stock tanking. (Photo by Marco BELLO / AFP)
On Friday, analysts from Deutsche Bank and Keybanc decreased their price target on the stock, to $210 from $330, and $225 from $300 respectively.
The majority of Wall Street analysts are bullish on Block, with 18 Buy, 10 Hold, and zero Sell recommendations.
Last year, the company announced the acquisition of Afterpay, the Australian ‘buy now, pay later’ platform for $29 billion. The deal was seen positively by several Wall Street analysts.
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