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While shareholders are likely to key in on near-term weakness in its core retail payments business when it announces Q1 earnings on Thursday, Block is investing further afield, seeking to encourage bitcoin miners as it attempts to create an ecosystem that goes far beyond money transfers.

U.S. retail consumer spending’s deceleration threatens to take a bite out of Block’s revenue from Square store terminals. Payment volume growth has declined across companies in the sector, including industry giants Visa $V -0.4% and Mastercard $MA -0.3%. Another point of interest will be profit growth for Block’s payment app, Cash App. Shareholders will be seeking updates on banking services offered through Cash App following its savings account launch in January. The digital-wallet business has only become more competitive following the introduction last month of Apple’s $AAPL -0.6% high-yield savings account.

“The company has been executing quite well for the past year in terms of having expense discipline and driving upside to their profitability targets,” says Jason Kupferberg, a Bank of America BAC -1.1% analyst.

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Sales are expected to come in at $4.6 billion, according to analysts projections compiled by FactSet, up 16% from Q1 2022. The projected net loss for the quarter is $108 million, compared with a $204 million deficit in the prior-year period. On the adjusted basis used by analysts, which excludes certain costs, earnings per share are seen at 35 cents.

Block is trying to balance profitability with long-term ecosystem investments that are largely in the crypto industry, through the acquisition of rapper Jay-Z’s music streaming service Tidal falls under the same umbrella. Despite the ambitious vision, the company’s C-suite has suggested that such investments do not take up more than 2-3% of Block’s operating expenses