Cash App to End Bitcoin Transfers via User Tags Amid Compliance Concerns

According to Odaily, Cash App has announced the termination of Bitcoin transfers using user tags, effective December 20, 2024. This decision follows months of compliance investigations by the U.S. federal government into Block, the parent company of Cash App. The announcement, made on Cash App's help page, has raised concerns among users about the app's risk management capabilities. Despite this change, users can still send and receive Bitcoin through the Lightning Network or the Bitcoin blockchain. A review of the Wayback Machine in October revealed no prior notification of this change. The update appears to specifically affect Bitcoin transfers and does not seem to impact other services, such as sending stocks or cash using unique identifiers known as cashtags. A spokesperson for Cash App stated that the decision was made to focus internal resources on the products and services most valued by Bitcoin holders on the platform. Cash App, originally launched as Square Cash in 2013 as part of Block Inc., began as a peer-to-peer payment system similar to PayPal's Venmo. Over time, it has evolved into a super app, offering features such as Bitcoin and stock purchases, savings, lending, and a prepaid Visa debit card issued by Sutton Bank. The usage of Bitcoin peer-to-peer transfers on Cash App remains unclear, as the platform does not disclose these figures. However, regulatory filings indicate that the cryptocurrency business has been profitable for the company. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Cash App generated over $65 million in Bitcoin gross profit, marking a 90% increase from the fourth quarter of 2022. In the early months of 2023, Cash App reported over $10.3 billion in net revenue, accounting for approximately 65% of Block's net revenue at the time. As of December 2023, Cash App had 56 million active accounts, though it remains uncertain how many of these users engaged with its cryptocurrency services.