Blockchain's Cash App will stop supporting free Bitcoin p2p transfers in December

Cash App’s decision to end the ability to transfer Bitcoin via user tags comes months after the U.S. federal government launched an investigation into Block’s compliance practices, sparking concerns among users about the app’s ability to handle risks. In a notice on its help page, Cash App announced that it would “no longer support sending and receiving Bitcoin between $cashtags starting December 20, 2024.” The company noted that users can still send and receive Bitcoin using the Lightning Network or the Bitcoin blockchain. A check of the Wayback Machine in October showed no such notice. Moreover, the change appears to affect only Bitcoin transfers and does not appear to affect other services, such as sending stocks or cash via unique identifier cashtags. A Cash App spokesperson said the company made the decision to “focus internal resources on the products and services most used and valued by Bitcoin holders on Cash App.” Cash App (formerly Square Cash) was launched in 2013 as part of Block Inc. and was originally a peer-to-peer payment system similar to PayPal’s Venmo. It has since expanded into a super app with features like bitcoin and stock buying, savings, lending, and even a prepaid Visa debit card issued by Sutton Bank. It is unclear how much bitcoin p2p transfers are used on Cash App, as the platform does not disclose this data. However, regulatory filings show that the cryptocurrency business has been profitable for the company, with Cash App generating more than $65 million in gross bitcoin profits in the fourth quarter of 2023, up 90% from the fourth quarter of 2022. In the first few months of 2023, Cash App generated more than $10.3 billion in net revenue, about 65% of Block's net revenue at the time. As of December 2023, the app had 56 million active accounts, but it is unclear how many of them used crypto services. (crypto.news)