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Block Agrees to $40M Settlement With New York Over Faulty Money-Laundering Controls
The payments and blockchain firm has agreed to an outside monitor as it resolves its compliance with New York regulations.
Apr 10, 2025, 3:02 p.m.
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What to know:
- The blockchain and payments company founded by Jack Dorsey agreed to a $40 million settlement with New York over money-laundering controls.
- The company said this marks the last state-based settlement involving its Cash App.
Block Inc. has agreed to pay $40 million to settle accusations from the New York Department of Financial Services that the company didn't properly manage its money-laundering safeguards, according to a statement from the regulator on Thursday.
Block, which operates Cash App for peer-to-peer transactions and was formerly known as Square Inc., is under orders from the New York regulator to fix any shortcomings and to submit to an outside monitor. The regulator noted that the blockchain and payments business' "lax treatment of high-risk bitcoin transactions" in past years let effectively anonymous transactions through its system.
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"The rapid growth of Block’s Cash App absent a robust compliance function created risk and vulnerabilities that violated the rules financial services companies operating in New York must adhere to," NYDFS Superintendent Adreienne Harris said in the statement. "The department is taking decisive steps to ensure accountability, including the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee corrective measures.”
In a statement from Block, the company said it didn't admit to any of the findings in the New York case, but it's "pleased to put this matter behind us."
"Following our recent settlement with our other state money transmission regulators, we have now reached an agreement with the final remaining state money transmission regulator, New York Department of Financial Services, to resolve a matter principally related to Cash App’s past compliance program," the company said.
The regulator's examinations covered a period spanning 2021 and 2022 at the company founded by Jack Dorsey, and the resulting consent order noted "serious compliance deficiencies" that had created "a high-risk environment vulnerable to exploitation by criminal actors."
Since 2018, Block has held a New York BitLicense to conduct digital assets operations in the state.
Read More: Jack Dorsey's Square to Invest More in Bitcoin Mining and Shut Decentralized 'Web5' Venture
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Senate Agriculture's crypto market structure draft peppered with Democrat pitches
The latest draft of the major crypto legislation has begun to be targeted with amendments as the Senate Agriculture Committee approaches its hearing next week.
Ano ang dapat malaman:
- Proposed amendments to the Senate Agriculture Committee's crypto market structure bill have been posted, and the Democrats filing the pitches are seeking to push a number of the points they've sought over months of negotiation.
- Democrat amendments include proposals for banning senior government officials from profiting off of crypto interests and a demand for filling the Commodity Futures Trading Commission before new rules can be put in place.
- The committee's markup hearing for the bill is currently scheduled for next week, though a winter storm threatens the U.S. capital.
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