Coin Market

Jack Dorsey's Block fined $40M for alleged crypto compliance, AML failures

Published

4 weeks ago

April 10, 2025

Digital payments company Block Inc. has reached a $40 million settlement with New York regulators over alleged compliance misconducts tied to its Cash App platform, Bloomberg reported on April 10.

Block was fined by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) following an investigation into Cash App’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and cryptocurrency compliance operations, Bloomberg said after reviewing the government agency’s consent order.

NYDFS determined that Block allegedly violated consumer protection laws and didn’t conduct proper due diligence on its customers. The company was allegedly too slow in reporting suspicious transactions to regulators and failed to adequately screen so-called “high-risk” Bitcoin (BTC) transactions.

Block confirmed that it had worked with NYDFS to “resolve the matter principally related to Cash App’s past compliance program.” However, it did not admit to any wrongdoing, according to Bloomberg.

Block, which was founded by internet entrepreneur and Bitcoin advocate Jack Dorsey in 2009, had been negotiating a settlement with the NYDFS since last year, based on filings submitted with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Excerpts of Block Inc.’s February Form 10K filing with the SEC. Source: SEC

The NYDFS settlement isn’t the first monetary penalty Block has agreed to pay this year. As Cointelegraph reported, the company paid $80 million in fines to several state regulators over alleged violations tied to its AML program.

Block remains in growth mode

Despite getting caught in regulatory crosshairs, Block’s underlying business remained strong at the end of 2024. Companywide revenues increased by roughly 4.5% year-over-year to $6.03 billion as per-share earnings climbed 51% to $0.71.

The other positive takeaway was that Block’s merchant gross payment volume, or the total amount of money processed through its systems, increased by 10% to $61.95 billion.

Cash App continues to be a source of growth, with the unit recording $1.38 billion in gross profit in the fourth quarter.

The mobile payment service had more than 57 million monthly transacting users in early 2024.

Despite reporting strong growth, Block Inc.’s (XYZ) share price has fallen more than 37% this year as part of a marketwide sell-off. Source: Yahoo Finance

Cash App users have been able to buy Bitcoin through the platform since at least 2018. In 2023, Cash App integrated crypto accounting software TaxBit, giving users an easier way to track and report their crypto-related taxes.

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Coin Market

Bitcoin at $103K hurtles MARA stack toward $5B, holdings triple

Published

40 minutes ago

May 9, 2025

Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings (MARA) nearly tripled its Bitcoin holdings over 12 months, according to its newly released Q1 results.

However, its Bitcoin production fell, and total earnings slightly missed Wall Street estimates in Q1.

MARA, formerly Marathon Digital, saw its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings increase to 47,531 BTC, up 175% from the 17,320 BTC the firm was holding at the end of Q1 2024.

MARA holdings inch closer to $5B after Bitcoin pump

MARA holds the second-largest amount of Bitcoin among all publicly traded companies, according to CoinGecko data. Strategy (MSTR) holds the number one spot with 555,450 Bitcoin.

The holdings represent a total value of approximately $4.9 billion, based on Bitcoin’s current price of $102,660 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap data. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin’s price spiked 4.86%.

Bitcoin is trading at $102,660 at the time of publication. Source: CoinMarketCap

However, the amount of Bitcoin that MARA produced over the quarter fell 19% compared to the same quarter in 2024 to 2,286 Bitcoin.

MARA attributed this to the last Bitcoin halving event, which reduced mining rewards to 3.125 BTC per block and tightened overall supply.

MARA fell short of analyst revenue expectations by 0.35%, according to Zacks Research. The analysts pointed out that MARA has only surpassed consensus revenue estimates once in the past four quarters.

MARA is trading at $14.20 at the time of publication. Source: Google Finance

Despite this, MARA’s stock price jumped 7.2% during trading on May 8 but has since pulled back nearly 2% in after-hours trading, according to data from Google Finance.

Bitcoin mining firms share same frustrations

Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms echoed similar difficulties in their recent Q1 financial report.

Riot said that the average cost to mine Bitcoin over the quarter was $43,808, almost 90% more than the $23,034 it cost to mine Bitcoin in the same period last year. However, Riot beat its $159.8 million revenue consensus estimate by 1%.

Several other Bitcoin mining firms also fell short of Wall Street’s revenue expectations.

Bitcoin miner CleanSpark missed consensus estimates by 0.58%, reporting quarterly revenue of $181.71 million.

Bitcoin miner Core Scientific also fell short of analyst expectations with total Q1 revenue reaching $79.5 million, missing Zacks analysts’ estimates by 8.11% and falling from its $179.3 million revenue for Q1 2024.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin miner Hut8 reported the widest miss among Bitcoin mining firms, falling 35% short of Wall Street expectations.

Zacks Research had projected Hut8 to post first-quarter revenue of $35 million, but Hut8 came in significantly lower at just $21 million.

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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Coin Market

Rumble CEO confirms Tether-collab crypto wallet to launch in Q3

Published

40 minutes ago

May 9, 2025

Rumble’s pro-crypto founder and CEO has confirmed that the firm will launch its Bitcoin and stablecoin wallet in the third quarter of this year, aimed at giving the Coinbase Wallet a run for its money.

The Rumble Wallet will be launched in partnership with stablecoin issuer Tether and compete directly with Coinbase, Chris Pavlovski said in a May 9 X post.

“Our goal is to become the most prominent non-custodial Bitcoin and stablecoin wallet, powering the creator economy,” he added.

He continued to state that the Rumble Wallet will be the “vehicle to help monetize creators better than most advertisers, especially in international markets,” though he did not provide further details other than it may support Tether Gold (XAUT) as well.

Rumble Wallet. Source: Chris Pavlovski

The video streaming platform, founded in late 2013 as a YouTube alternative for small content creators, first announced the launch of a Tether (USDT) wallet for creators in March. Tether invested $775 million in Rumble in December 2024.

The Rumble Bitcoin (BTC) wallet is entering a crowded crypto wallet application market dominated by Coinbase, Robinhood, eToro, PayPal, Revolut, Crypto.com and MetaMask.

The use of mobile crypto wallets hit an all-time high of 36 million in Q4, 2024, according to Coinbase. The firm, which Pavlovski aims to compete with, reported more than 100 million registered users in 2024, almost double that of Rumble’s video platform.

Rumble has also joined the ranks of Michael Saylor’s Strategy in becoming a Bitcoin acquisition company since March, when it made its first purchase of 188 BTC. The firm currently holds 210 BTC, worth almost $22 million at current market prices.

Rumble Q1 revenue beat estimates

The firm reported a net loss of $2.7 million for the first quarter on May 8. However, this significantly improved over the $43 million loss in Q1 2024.

Additionally, its GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) loss of $0.01 per share was 90% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Rumble’s revenue was $23.7 million, exceeding estimates by 2.8% (and up from $17.7 million year-over-year. The firm also reported 59 million monthly active users, down from 68 million in Q4 2024.

“Rumble reported strong first-quarter 2025 results, highlighted by 34% year-over-year revenue growth to $23.7 million, driven by increased subscription revenue and monetization across our video and advertising platforms,” said Pavlovski.

Rumble financial summary. Source: Rumble

Rumble shares (RUM) gained 2.37% on the day to reach $7.78 in after-hours trading, according to Google Finance. However, company stock has lost 40% year to date.

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Coin Market

US man who sent crypto to ISIS could serve prison till he’s 65

Published

40 minutes ago

May 9, 2025

A man from the US state of Virginia will spend over three decades behind bars after being convicted of sending crypto to the terrorist organization commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Federal Judge David Novak sentenced Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa to 30 years and four months in prison on May 7 for sending over $185,000 to the Islamic State, the Department of Justice said on May 8.

Prosecutors said that from around October 2019 until October 2022, the 35-year-old Chhipa collected and sent money to female Islamic State members in Syria, which helped them escape prison camps and funded fighting.

The Justice Department said Chhipa would raise funds for the United Nations-designated terror organization through social media — receiving money online, or traveling hundreds of miles to accept donations in person.

He’d convert the money into crypto and send it to Turkey for it to be smuggled to Islamic State members across the border in Syria, prosecutors said.

A federal jury convicted Chhipa in December, finding him guilty on a charge of conspiracy to provide support to a terrorist organization and four charges of providing and attempting to provide support to a terrorist organization.

An undated picture of Chhipa, a naturalized US citizen born in India. Source: Alexandria Sheriff’s Office via TRM

“This defendant directly financed ISIS in its efforts to commit vile terrorist atrocities against innocent citizens in America and abroad,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This severe sentence illustrates that if you fund terrorism, we will prosecute you and put you behind bars for decades.”

Chhipa tried to flee US during FBI probe

Prosecutors said that during the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into Chhipa, he tried to flee the country to escape prosecution and tried to hide his tracks through a series of actions seemingly aimed at confusing authorities.

According to a motion for detention filed in August, FBI agents searched Chhipa’s house on Aug. 2, 2019, and that night Chhipa drove to a bank, withdrew $1,800 from an ATM, and then went to a Taco Bell, where he paid a stranger for a ride to a relative’s house. The relative then drove him to a grocery store.

Three days later, prosecutors said Chhipa “purchased a series of bus tickets using variations and/or misspelling of his name and recently created email accounts.”

He then travelled from Virginia to Mexico and onto Guatemala. He then bought tickets to fly from Guatemala to Panama, then onto Germany, and then to Egypt, but an Interpol Blue Notice was issued, and he was returned to the US.

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