Key Takeaways
Block, the company behind Cash App, cites regulatory difficulties in the UK as a reason for the shutdown.
Block has been heavily investing in partnerships and integrations for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Lightning, and mining hardware.
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Cash App, a popular mobile payment platform, will cease operations in the United Kingdom by September 15.
Block, the fintech company behind Cash App, announced the closure on Thursday. The decision to withdraw from the UK market comes as part of Block’s strategy to prioritize its focus on the United States and deprioritize global expansion.
Cash App launched in the UK in 2018, offering peer-to-peer money transfer services. However, unlike its US counterpart, the UK version did not include functionality for Bitcoin purchases. This feature, which allows US customers to buy, sell, send, and receive Bitcoin, has become increasingly popular in recent years.
“We do not make decisions like this lightly, as we know they impact our customers, our partners, and our team members who have helped us build to where we are today,” Block stated.
Block, formerly known as Square Inc., has been steadily integrating Bitcoin-related services into its products. In 2022, Cash App launched a service enabling American users to send Bitcoin via the Lightning Network, a layer-2 solution facilitating faster and cheaper transactions.
Block recently announced that stores using Square technology can now automatically convert a portion of daily sales into Bitcoin. The company, headed by Jack Dorsey, has also made significant investments in Bitcoin mining, in particular with the recent sale of the first batch of its 3 nanometer (3nm) mining ASICs (application-specific integrated circuit) to Core Scientific.
The closure of Cash App in the UK highlights the challenges financial tech companies face in balancing global expansion with focused market strategies. While Block continues to innovate in the US market, particularly in Bitcoin-related services, its decision to withdraw from the UK reveals the difficulties of maintaining operations across regulatory environments that differ.
Earlier this year, Block laid off over a thousand employees from Cash App, Foundational, and Square, citing a broader restructuring plan initially outlined by Dorsey in 2023.
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