I found this to be one of the weaker points in the research, as far as making a short case goes. If anything, the fact that it's so popular in hip hop would expose it to a much larger legitimate audience. Regardless, it's also just somewhat non-unique, Zelle is also name dropped in 22gz's Suburban, and a few Von and Durk songs, limiting ourselves only to drill rappers. Probably Venmo as well though I can't say I've heard it any songs.
The fraudulent activity is obviously a problem, but I'm not sure how to separate this association from, say, bragging about buying Gucci with drug money, street racing in a Dodge Hellcat, or performing drive-bys in a Revel.
Funny, it seemed like one of the strongest points.
1. It's visual and memorable.
2. It leaves you wondering what the hell Dorsey and "Cash App Studios" were thinking when they promoted these guys.
3. It strongly bolsters their case that Block were asleep at the wheel with respect to criminal activity, probably intentionally.
We all know that Silicon Valley firms are obsessed with not being racist but didn't anyone there wonder what the guys were rapping about for even a second? Or why they'd name an entire song after the app? That isn't in any way normal behavior for rappers. Surely someone watched it and realized that, um, this isn't actually good PR, these guys are saying they use Cash App to pay for all sorts of criminal activity. Why? If it's once to make a rhyme then it's an artistic choice, if it's >1000 times that can't be a coincidence.
To be so blind to activity so obvious that you're literally boasting about it on stage in front of a bunch of bankers implies a massive breakdown of AML obligations. And that would indeed be short-worthy.
I'm not sure they really bent over backwards to not be racist considering that of all the possible representations of their customers' use cases, they went with "use our app to move your drug money"
These report put together all possible allegations and the kitchen sink. It was same for Adani reports. Hindenburg isn't a legal authority which is seeking to prosecute companies. They are activist investors. So for them it make sense to add emotional arguments, aggregate already public information and present all data/scenarios that will cause the stock to fall.
If CashApp numbers are inflated by illegal activities that will go away if the law cracks down on them, that is a matter of concern for CashApp investors.
If your money app allows you to be scammed with no recourse to pull back the funds, then as a customer in a free market where better fraud protections exist, you are going to consider that app to be scammy.
This is marketing not moral reasoning, and as customers, please encourage other customers to have a low tolerance for being blamed for fraud.
It reads like people who understand that under US law Block were expected to actively search for and fight criminal activity on their platform. If a rapper raps about their fav sports car then whatever, car companies aren't expected to stop criminals from driving. If they rap about paying for murders through your app, that's actually a serious legal problem for the company providing the service.
The fraudulent activity is obviously a problem, but I'm not sure how to separate this association from, say, bragging about buying Gucci with drug money, street racing in a Dodge Hellcat, or performing drive-bys in a Revel.