Do we like them?

Do we like Block (Square, Cash App)?

Payments group behind Square, Cash App, Afterpay, Tidal and Bitkey, with its main office in Oakland, California.

Our score: 4 out of 10. Useful products for small sellers and people shut out of banks. But fines for weak fraud and money-laundering controls, plus a 40% AI-driven layoff, leave us cautious.

Square began in 2009 when Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey built a card reader so small sellers could take card payments. It has since grown into Block, which also owns Cash App, Afterpay, Tidal, Bitkey and Proto. Dorsey still runs it as 'Block Head' and chair, and the 2026 proxy lists Amrita Ahuja as CFO and COO.

The big drama is Cash App. In January 2025 the US consumer watchdog (CFPB) ordered Block to pay a $55M penalty plus up to $120M in refunds. It said Cash App let fraud spread and pushed users away from getting help. Block said the issues were 'historical'. It did not admit or deny the findings.

There were also money-laundering fines. Block paid $80M to state money-transmitter regulators, and New York's financial regulator added $40M and an independent monitor. New York cited 8,359 Cash App accounts that Block's own 2022 internal investigation had linked to a Russian criminal network. A $45M multistate attorneys-general deal followed.

In February 2026 Dorsey told shareholders that AI tools were behind cutting about 40% of staff. That took the company from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. Shares jumped. In November, Investing.com reported signs of more, smaller cuts, based on social-media posts. Block hadn't responded when it ran.

The good side is real but mostly self-reported. Block says it has provided over $200B in credit through Cash App Borrow, Afterpay and Square Loans, and that most of its Square Loans go to women-owned and minority-owned businesses. Add the regulator fines and the layoffs and we land at 4 out of 10: useful, but not a firm we'd trust yet.