The change is one of two that happened this week. On Monday, S&P Global also confirmed that The Trade Desk will take over Ansys’ place after Synopsys closed its deal to acquire the software firm on Thursday. While most of these index swaps happen during regular quarterly rebalancing, mergers like this one fast-track the process. Last week, Datadog moved into the index to fill the spot left by Juniper Networks.

Block moves into S&P 500 as tech expands

This latest development means the index has more tech weight, continuing a trend that’s been on for years. Jack Dorsey launched Block in 2009. At the time, the company was called Square. It made a name for itself with sleek payment terminals before branching out into crypto, lending, and broader financial services. It rebranded as Block in 2021 to match its growing interest in blockchain infrastructure.

Block’s jump into the S&P 500 puts it above many of its peers in terms of valuation. Even though its stock is down 14% this year, it still holds a market cap of around $45 billion, which is well above the median for companies in the index. For context, the Nasdaq is up over 8% this year, and the S&P 500 itself has gained about 7%, meaning Block’s underperformance hasn’t stopped it from climbing into the top tier.

The stock jump didn’t come from better earnings or any new product drop. This is all about portfolio managers being forced to buy Block to track the S&P 500 exactly. When a company gets added to the index, massive funds have no choice but to load up. That buying pressure sent the price up instantly.

Still, things haven’t exactly been smooth for the company. In May, Block reported first-quarter results that missed expectations, and it followed up with a downbeat forecast for the second quarter and the full year. That guidance came with a warning about the overall U.S. economy, especially following tariff actions by President Donald Trump that tightened conditions for a lot of businesses.

“We recognize we are operating in a more dynamic macro environment, so we have reflected a more cautious stance on the macro outlook into our guidance for the rest of the year,” Block wrote in its latest quarterly filing. The next major checkpoint for the company is coming fast. Block is expected to report second-quarter earnings on August 7, after the close of markets. Investors, already tied to the stock through index exposure, will be watching closely.

The post Block set to join the S&P 500, stock rises by 10% first appeared on Coinfea.

The decision comes after the impressive win of presidential candidate Donald Trump in the United States presidential elections. Trump already hinted at a crypto-friendly environment during his campaign. Also, the campaign promises were repeated severally in meetings with crypto mining firms. Trump assured miners of support coupled with the provision of energy sources towards mining.

The letter discussed the company’s performance in the third quarter. Block performed a little below par, hitting $5.98 billion in revenue instead of its projected $6.24 billion. The figure did not account for Bitcoin, which hit $3 billion, representing a rise of 11% year-on-year. Despite the slow performance of its stock, Block managed to exceed its forecast.

Block set to focus on Block Proto

Block has been quite busy in the Bitcoin space, focusing on creating ASIC mining chips. Through its Block Proto arm, it has inked several collaborations with top mining firms like Core Scientific, producing three nanometer mining ASICs. Core Scientific recently revealed its decentralized Bitcoin mining dream, an initiative Block Proto has keyed into.

The ASIC chips produced by Proto ensure reliability and improve efficiency and uptime for large-scale firms. Block Proto team lead Thomas Templeton discussed the importance of the firm’s partnership with Core Scientific in ensuring decentralized mining. He noted that the firm’s agreement will help it achieve its goals while pushing for the advancement of the mining industry.

Block also tweaked its Bitcoin purchase strategy, pushing 10% of the profits from the asset into buying more. The entity sees Bitcoin as a perfect open system for money without the control of any single entity.

Bitcoin mining probability dropped since halving

Bitcoin mining profitability has been dropping since the halving event in April. According to a JP Morgan report, September signaled the third time in a row that the profitability fell. The financial institution highlighted several factors responsible for the drop, including the hashrate and increase in mining difficulty.

In August, JP Morgan reported that Bitcoin profitability was $43,600, a small figure compared to its $342,000 per exahash per second in 2021. Notably, the August figure was the lowest ever recorded.

September witnessed another fall, dragging the profitability figure to $42,100, 6% lower than the August figure. September became the third month that the reward had dropped significantly.

JP Morgan’s report noted that the profitability dropped despite the rise in the asset’s price and the drop in market-wide volatility. When the report was released, Bitcoin had gained 44% on the year.

Regardless, Bitcoin mining companies in the United States have increased their global mining hashrate. In June, the cumulative hashrate was 25% of the global figure. However, the value is still quite low compared to China’s 50%.

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