Rap Lyrics About Cash App Will Help Sink Jack Dorsey’s Business – Rolling Stone

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On Thursday, forensic financial research firm Hindenburg Research released a report accusing Jack Dorsey’s Block, formerly Square, of operating as a digital hub for fraud. The two-year investigation concluded that Block “systematically exploited the demographics it claimed to benefit” and that the company had “a willingness to facilitate fraud against consumers and governments, circumvent regulation, engage in predatory that loans and payments as revolutionary. technology, and misleading investors with inflated rates.”

The report references several rap songs to show how popular they believe Cash App, the mobile payment service Block launched in 2013, has become for illegal transfers. Thanks to its focus on “frictionless technology,” the report accused Block of allowing fraud to spread on its platform in order to grow its user base. In one example, researchers noted how shortly after President Trump announced the expansion of unemployment benefits during the pandemic, Dorsey tweeted that Cash App users could withdraw their pay “instantly” with “no need for a bank account.” Immediately after dispersals began, states began flagging fraudulent transactions.

Last July, LA rapper Nuke Bizzle, real name Fontrell Antonio Baines, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud. He is accused of filing more than $1 million in fraudulent unemployment claims with stolen identities. Twelve days before his arrest, he and Fat Wizza released a music video for “EDD,” which stands for Employment Development Department, the department in charge of distributing unemployment in California. He rhymes, “I got rich from EDD / Nobody hit the licks because of EDD,” and “ten cards, two hunnids big.” The Hindenburg investigation said Cash App was “the only payment provider mentioned” in Baines’ indictment.

The report also suggests that by not restricting the social security numbers of blacklisted users, Cash App is complicit in allowing scammers to remain on the platform. To reinforce the point, they namecheck Teejayx6’s “Cashapp,” where he rhymes, “They banned my Cash App cause I sent a thousand transactions…I just buy another phone and created a Cash App.” The video has over 500k views on YouTube. There is another video titled “TeeJayx6 2020 Fraud Bible Cashapp Method LIVE ( REALLY WORKS ),” where an apparent Teejayx6 fan shows himself making fraudulent transactions.

An even more damning element of the Hindenburg report focused on Block promoting Brooklyn rapper 22GZ’s “Cashapp” single, in which he rhymed, “I pay them with the Cash App.” In the video, he holds up a phone that shows the app, then makes a throat gesture. Maybe Jack Dorsey, who bought the digital streaming provider Tidal in 2021, likened himself to a progressive who gave 22GZ his artistic license. But for some, their raising a song dedicated solely to using their app for murders crossed a line.

The general thesis of the report is not only that Block is too easy for fraudsters but that Cash App is aware of these dynamics, in part from the so-called “scam rap” scene. The so-called scam rap is rap’s hardest test for the line between art and reality. Although it is simple enough for street artists to portray themselves as gangsters or drug dealers with general bragging and threats, the permutations of fraud are even more hypogeal. rappers who get the most specific in their lyrics can set a target. behind them. The justice system is already eager to criminalize rap lyrics, and now it appears that activist investors are using them to send a stock price crash. Block shares reportedly fell 19% after the report. In a statement, Block said it “reviewed the entire report in the context of our own data and believes it was designed to deceive and confuse investors.”