Cryptocurrency
Jack Dorsey’s Block fined $40M for alleged crypto compliance, AML failures
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.
Related: NYDFS chief’s advice for crypto firms: ‘Never surprise your regulator’
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.
Magazine: Bitcoin heading to $70K soon? Crypto baller funds SpaceX flight: Hodler’s Digest, March 30 – April 5
Key Takeaways: Web3 agent developer Giza announced that Giza Agents, which have facilitated over $40 million in volume to date, are entering the institutional space through a partnership with DeFi investment firm Re7 Capital.Re7 Capital will use Giza’s financial autonomous agents to manage liquidity, marking a significant step forward for the technology. The partnership targets a key institutional challenge: achieving high-performance treasury management without sacrificing control or security. Giza’s agent infrastructure aims to solve this with its autonomous, secure framework. Giza has introduced a sophisticated non-linear optimizer that models each DeFi protocol as a unique curve shaped by liquidity, fees, and utilization dynamics, offering measurable gains over simplistic rate-chasing strategies when tested against historical data. Unlike conventional systems, Giza’s Agents account for the full lifecycle of a position, factoring in gas fees, slippage, and reward lock-ups, and rebalance only when the projected benefit clearly exceeds the opportunity cost. This conserves returns by avoiding unnecessary transactions. The methodology surpasses simple APR comparisons by integrating principles from modern portfolio theory, allowing for efficient frontier-based allocations and nuanced yield component analysis. “Until now, institutions had to choose between iron-clad control and top-tier performance. Giza Agents eliminate that trade-off; capital runs autonomously, relentlessly productive, policy-locked, and cryptographically secure. Re7’s deployment marks the moment self-driving finance goes institutional,” said Renç Korzay, CEO of Giza. Giza delivers a level of bespoke risk management that has been largely out of reach in decentralized finance. Each proposed allocation is subjected to rigorous pre-flight health checks, which assess protocol liquidity, utilization rates, and volatility metrics. Transactions are executed only when these parameters fall within predefined, policy-encoded thresholds, ensuring disciplined adherence to institutional risk mandates. Giza is building a specialized suite of Agents tailored to Re7 Capital’s broader ecosystem, with back-tests over the past four months showing notable outperformance. The customized Agents delivered a 67% higher yield on stablecoins and an 18.5% higher yield on ETH compared to static allocation strategies. These gains were achieved by executing liquidity shifts across vaults only when the optimizer’s signal exceeded the cost of transaction execution. The supporting infrastructure — including a smart-account template, real-time monitoring stack, and session-key framework — has been designed for modularity and reuse. This streamlines the rollout of future Agents, such as Re7’s USDC and wETH variants, which are currently in testing and require significantly less engineering overhead than initial deployments. While development continues, Re7 will deploy $500,000 in USDC into ARMA, Giza’s flagship Agent, to begin compounding yield immediately — all without the need for custom code. The digital economy is growing exceptionally — and cryptocurrency is at the heart of this transformation. As blockchain technology becomes more mainstream, businesses are exploring new ways to accept payments beyond traditional banking systems. For eCommerce platforms, especially those powered by WooCommerce, enabling crypto payments presents both a strategic and technical advantage. For startups, this shift presents a unique window: not only they create solutions to accept crypto on WooCommerce, but also position themselves at the intersection of Web3 and online commerce. Whether you’re an emerging startup, a fintech entrepreneur, or an eminent team looking to enter the eCommerce infrastructure space, building a crypto payment gateway for WooCommerce is a chance to innovate and capture early mover advantage. So, in this blog, allow me to share the ins and outs of developing a crypto payment gateway for WooCommerce from understanding its fundamentals to integrating to tailored needs. Before that… Nowadays, Cryptocurrencies are no longer confined to tech-savvy circles or hypothetical assets — they’re increasingly becoming an honest medium of exchange, particularly in online commerce. From Industrial giants like Microsoft and Overstock to niche ecommerce stores, businesses are embracing cryptocurrencies to meet the demands of a new generation of consumers. This is all due to some compelling reasons that adapt to the trends: Lower Transaction Fees: Traditional payment processors charge anywhere from 2–5% in fees. In contrast, many blockchain transactions cost significantly less, especially when using layer-2 or efficient chains like Polygon or Solana. Global Accessibility: Crypto payments remove the need for currency conversions, allowing merchants to instantly reach a global customer base without complex banking setups. Elimination of Chargebacks: Since crypto transactions are irreversible, they protect merchants from fraudulent disputes — a common pain point with credit cards. Enhanced Privacy & Control: For both consumers and businesses, crypto allows greater control over data and finances, without intermediaries. The data supports this trend. According to a 2024 report by Triple-A, over 420 million people globally own cryptocurrency, and an estimated 300,000+ merchants already accept crypto payments. Additionally, stablecoins such as USDT and USDC are making it easier for retailers to mitigate volatility while benefiting from blockchain-based settlement. So, in that sense, as crypto adoption grows, forward-thinking startups and entrepreneurs have a valuable opportunity to build crypto payment gateways and tools that power the next era of digital commerce. Now, let us go into the main part…. So, what exactly is a crypto payment gateway, and why is it such a big deal for WooCommerce? A Cryptocurrency Payment Gateway is an online digitised platform where transactions of digital currencies take place, like BTC, ETH, etc, in a decentralized manner. Think of it as the bridge between your online store and the world of cryptocurrency. Just like PayPal or Stripe processes traditional card payments, a crypto gateway allows customers to pay with digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or stablecoins — seamlessly and securely. But there’s a key difference: unlike traditional gateways that rely on banks and centralized systems, crypto gateways work on decentralized blockchain networks. That means transactions are typically faster, fees can be lower, and you don’t have to worry about chargebacks. A solid crypto payment gateway usually does a few important things: There are already well-known services out there — BitPay, CoinGate, NOWPayments — but many WooCommerce businesses are looking for more flexibility, more control, or a white-label solution. That’s where the real opportunity lies for startups: building customized or their own branded crypto payment solutions that truly match the needs of modern online stores. So, now, it is time to know how to develop a crypto payment gateway for your E-Commerce store. But… Creating your own crypto payment gateway for WooCommerce is not just technically possible. But when it is done with the help of professionals in the industry, then it’s a smart move. If you’re a startup looking to own a piece of the Web3 commerce infrastructure, it is highly advisable to connect with professional Crypto payment gateway developers in the industry for that. Here is what they do, a step-by-step process: Before you write a single line of code, define your planning and use case for your payment gateway. Like, will your gateway support multiple coins or specialize in one (e.g., stablecoins), or who is your ideal customer — tech-savvy merchants, global sellers, niche communities etc. Also, it is essential to research popular platforms like BitPay or Coinpayments to identify gaps your gateway can fill. This is the most important step in creating a payment gateway for WooCommerce. Not all blockchains are created equal. Choose based on transaction speed, fees, and developer support. Some of the renowned choices are, Make sure you use well-documented APIs or SDKs for wallet creation and blockchain monitoring. Also decide if you’ll support stablecoins (e.g., USDC) to reduce volatility for merchants. This step is to decide the storage house for your payment gateway platform. Make sure your gateway needs to accept crypto securely. So, choose the wallet and integrate it with your platform that ensures the crypto transactions are seamless. Also, decide between custodial (you manage funds) or non-custodial (users connect wallets like MetaMask). Additionally, using Web3 libraries like Ethers.js, Web3.js, or Alchemy/Infura will make it easy to access a reliable blockchain. This is your core engine for your payment gateway to function in a decentralized manner. With this logic, generate wallet addresses or QR codes for each transaction. Also, be cautious about incoming blockchain transactions via Web3 providers or node services. This will confirm the payment after the required confirmations. Moreover, you should update your WooCommerce order status automatically via webhook. Here comes our part. This plugin is the gateway or base for all your WooCommerce transactions happening on your platform. So, make use of WooCommerce’s native Payment Gateway API. With the help of this API, Add your gateway as a new option at checkout. This allows admin configuration functions like selecting chains, wallets, and fees. Also, ensure your UX is clean and fits into WooCommerce’s existing flow. This step is purely optional, but when integrated into your payment gateway platform, it is highly valuable in branding and attracting users. Merchants or users don’t always want to have or use crypto. In that case, it is highly advisable to integrate with exchanges (Binance, Coinbase, Transak) to auto-convert crypto to fiat. This will show real-time rates, handle volatility safely, and add massive appeal to non-crypto-native users. Developing a crypto payment gateway without security is like a house without a door. Security implementation in the crypto payment gateways should be taken with utmost care. When done on our own, it may lead to some malfunction or something. In that case, it is highly necessary to get guidance from experts like crypto payment gateway developers or blockchain developers to address security concerns. Also, they will help you in testing and deploying your platform safely without any hassles. That’s it. These are the steps in creating a crypto payment gateway platform for your WooCommerce business. If these steps might be seen as a long process, then you can go with an instant MVP product, as I mentioned earlier — White Label Crypto Payment gateway! This software is designed by the steps mentioned above and tested thoroughly by professionals. Also, it can be customized to your needs. So, choose wisely!! Now that you have a clear understanding of developing a crypto payment gateway, let us go with… For a startup, building a crypto payment gateway for WooCommerce isn’t just a technical project; it’s a business with serious revenue potential. So, let me list out the revenue streams of that… This is the most direct model. Charge a small fee per transaction — either a flat rate or a percentage (e.g., 0.5–1%). Even at low rates, this can add up quickly as merchants scale. Also offering lower fees than traditional payment providers as a selling point, while still making a healthy margin thanks to blockchain’s efficiency. As the admin of the platform, you can offer tiered plans based on the following ways, These are ways to earn revenue via subscription plans for the users. Since you are launching a unique crypto payment gateway with exclusive branding, agencies, Web3 platforms, or marketplaces might want to rebrand your gateway as their own. So, by offering licensing deals or white-label versions with custom branding, dashboards, and hosted solutions, you can reap profits. A crypto payment gateway comes up with outstanding features to give a good UX to users. Through that, you can add revenue streams like… Thus, these are the diverse revenue-earning ways you can implement in your payment gateway platform. Keep in mind that a crypto payment gateway isn’t just a plugin — it’s an extraordinary platform. By packaging your platform right, you can create multiple revenue streams and grow alongside your merchant base. So, to be frank, implementing or creating a crypto payment gateway that supports e-commerce transactions will attract a larger consumer base globally. As you can see, crypto is becoming more integrated into everyday financial systems, and e-commerce is one of the spaces where the impact will be most visible — and profitable. WooCommerce store owners are already searching for flexible, secure, and user-friendly ways to accept crypto. That demand isn’t going away — it’s only growing. So, if you are a startup that is serious about turning this platform into a scalable and profitable product, don’t try to reinvent the wheel alone. Then what’s my advice? Connect with an experienced Crypto Payment Gateway development company or partner with teams that specialize in blockchain and WEB3 integrations. Working with the right experts can save you months of trial and error — and help you launch faster, with confidence. Penny for your thoughts! — A well-crafted crypto payment gateway doesn’t just solve a technical problem — it empowers businesses to think globally, reduce costs, and tap into a new wave of Web3 consumers. 9 Exercises To Grow Arms at Home | Increase Arm Strength Without Equipment Good Morning America Full Broadcast — Monday, May 19, 2025 BECOME TALLER & GET SLIMMER /11 MIN FULL BODY EXERCISES ROUTINES TO GROW TALLER AT HOME_ Shrilyn Kim Zolciak & Kroy Biermann, Timeline of Their Relationship Drama The Worst Mistake for a Flat Stomach 15-minute arm workout with dumbbells for biceps and triceps The Weeknd And Jenna Ortega Star In A Dull Film Kody Brown Kinda Regrets Telling Ex-Wives He Never Loved Them
What is Giza offering?
Details of the partnership
The SEC’s upcoming DeFi roundtable signals a bold pivot toward regulatory collaboration, unlocking high-stakes potential to reshape crypto policy and accelerate decentralized innovation nationwide. SEC Targets DeFi Policy Shakeup in New Roundtable—Industry Voices Invited The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on May 28 that it will convene a roundtable titled “DeFi and the […]
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Research & Define Your Use Case
Choose Your Blockchain Stack
Wallet Integration
Incorporating Payment Processing Logic
Build the WooCommerce Plugin
Adding Fiat Conversion ( it is optional)
Implementing Security, Testing, and Deployment
Transaction Fees
SaaS Model (Subscription Plans)
White-Label Solutions
Value-Added Services
White House says Israel accepted proposed ceasefire in Gaza
Judge extends order blocking Trump’s attempt to bar Harvard from enrolling foreign students
Giza goes institutional: Re7 Capital adopts autonomous DeFi treasury management
9 Exercises To Grow Arms at Home | Increase Arm Strength Without Equipment
Good Morning America Full Broadcast — Monday, May 19, 2025
BECOME TALLER & GET SLIMMER /11 MIN FULL BODY EXERCISES ROUTINES TO GROW TALLER AT HOME_ Shrilyn
White House says Israel accepted proposed ceasefire in Gaza
Judge extends order blocking Trump’s attempt to bar Harvard from enrolling foreign students
Fed Chair Powell met with Trump at the White House Thursday and told him rate decisions can’t be political
