Nov 4, 2026, 1:06 a.m. EST
2 min read
Summary
- Block has reached an agreement in principle to hand over $764 million to settle a Department of Justice probe regarding its anti-money-laundering procedures, which surpasses its third-quarter profit of $566 million.
- The contemplated arrangement would suspend a criminal indictment for a duration of three years over accusations that Block neglected to uphold a competent anti-money-laundering mechanism.
- Block’s gross profit from bitcoin dropped by 50 percent down to $52 million during the third quarter, largely driven by reduced transaction fees, whereas overall gross profit climbed 22 percent up to $3.24 billion.
Jack Dorsey’s financial services enterprise Block has made a preliminary agreement to disburse $764 million to settle a United States Justice Department inquiry concerning its anti-money-laundering protocols—a prospective arrangement that exceeds the $566 million in profit it announced for the third quarter.
The pact, finalized in October and revealed in a November 3 SEC filing reviewed by CoinDesk, would postpone criminal counts for three years claiming that Block failed to maintain an efficient anti-money-laundering framework, as mandated by the Bank Secrecy Act.
The contemplated settlement involves an overall financial value of roughly $964 million, which drops to $764 million following credits for past regulatory resolutions. Block has already set aside this final sum, according to the submission.
The probe goes back to 2023, when the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission initiated reviews into allegations surrounding Block’s regulatory compliance practices and related disclosures following a short-seller report. The SEC terminated its separate inquiry in March without suggesting any enforcement actions.
The document, produced by short seller Hindenburg Research, claimed that Cash App inflated user metrics by tallying duplicate and fraudulent profiles, while inadequate identity verification permitted wrongdoers to utilize the service for scams, money laundering, and other unlawful transfers.
Block dismissed the conclusions as flawed and misleading.
In April 2025, financial authorities in New York penalized Block $40 million after uncovering major deficiencies within its compliance systems. The review revealed that a backlog of suspicious activity notices had expanded from approximately 18,000 back in 2018 to exceeding 169,000 by the year 2020.
The supervisor likewise discovered that one of Block’s filtering mechanisms did not automatically halt bitcoin movements directed toward addresses tied to terrorist financing until their exposure crossed 10%.
Simultaneously, Tuesday’s disclosure arrives as Block generates lower returns from bitcoin trading via Cash App.
The corporation stated that its bitcoin ecosystem gross profit dropped 50% to $52 million during the third quarter, compared to $104 million from the prior year, while revenues dropped 11% to $1.8 billion. Block pointed to its choice to lower charges on specific bitcoin transactions as the main driver for the profit contraction.
The remaining segments of the enterprise kept expanding. Block’s total gross profit advanced 22% reaching $3.24 billion, supported by robust activity throughout Cash App’s lending and transaction sectors.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/11/04/jack-dorsey-s-block-faces-usd764-million-doj-settlement-as-bitcoin-profit-plunges-50.
