Jack Dorsey’s payments company, Block, has agreed in principle to pay $764 million to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) investigation into its anti-money-laundering (AML) controls as the firm’s Bitcoin business reported a sharp decline in quarterly profit.
The proposed settlement, disclosed in a November 3 2026 securities filing, would defer for 3 years a criminal charge alleging that Block failed to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering programme in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.
The agreement carries a gross monetary component of about $964 million, reduced to $764 million after credits for previous regulatory settlements. Block has already set aside the amount although the final agreement remains subject to court approval.
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The investigation began in 2023 following allegations by short seller Hindenburg Research that Cash App had weak compliance controls that allowed fraudulent accounts and illicit transactions to go undetected.
Block rejected the allegations as inaccurate and misleading.
In April 2025, New York’s financial regulator fined Block $40 million over compliance failures including a backlog of suspicious transaction alerts that had grown to more than 169,000 by 2020.
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Meanwhile, Block’s Bitcoin ecosystem gross profit fell 50% to $52 million in Q3 2026, from $104 million a year earlier, as the company reduced fees on certain Bitcoin transactions.
Bitcoin revenue declined 11% to $1.8 billion.
The decline came despite stronger performance across the broader business. Block’s overall gross profit rose 22% to $3.24 billion supported by growth in Cash App’s lending and payments operations.
The proposed settlement exceeds Block’s reported Q3 2026’s net profit of $566 million adding to scrutiny of the company’s compliance costs as it expands beyond Bitcoin trading.
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