Jack Dorsey’s block under investigation in US: Report

After Binance and Coinbase, authorities in the US are now reportedly launching an investigation into the crypto business of Jack Dorsey’s payments firm, Block. According to reports, US authorities have identified compliance violations by the fintech company, which has now launched a thorough investigation into its business practices. For some time now, authorities in the US have been keeping a close watch on companies involved in or offering crypto-related services. The sector is loosely regulated in the US and authorities are concerned that cryptocurrencies could be misused for illegal activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing.

Dorsey, the founder and former CEO of X, operates two more companies under the block, Cash and Square. Investigating officers have reportedly collected documents from both these units. The paperwork obtained shows that these platforms were not collecting enough information about their users before providing them with financial services, including crypto-related activities, NBC News has said. Said In its report, unidentified sources familiar with the matter have been cited.

Investigators have further alleged that the block platform was also processing many crypto transactions from countries that are part of the US sanctions list. Investigating authorities have alleged that Dorsey’s platforms are not reporting potentially suspicious transactions related to credit cards and dollar-to-BTC transfers to the US government, as required.

It was a former employee working for Dorsey who first alerted US authorities to the flaws in the business operations of the bloc and its subsidiaries. The report said that more than a hundred pages of printed documents were handed over to the US authorities by this former Bloc employee. So far, Dorsey has not addressed the situation, neither confirming nor denying the report.

Recently, the block claimed to have completed the manufacturing of a 3nm Bitcoin mining chip that aims to decentralize the supply of BTC mining hardware. The platform is now planning to work on a complete Bitcoin mining system.

In February this year, Dorsey revealed that the block held 8,038 BTC at the end of Q4 2023. At that time, this holding was worth $340 million (approximately Rs 2,818 crore).