Cash App, Square payment apps experiencing outage
Cash App users complained of error messages when trying to send or receive money, and some businesses couldn’t process Square payments all day.
UBS analyst Rayna Kumar downgraded Block stock to neutral from buy. She slashed her price target to 65 from 102.
“In the second half of 2023 and 2024, Block gross profit growth will likely slow given softening of consumer discretionary spending, a slowdown in Cash App monthly active user growth and moderation of Cash App monetization rates,” she said in a note to clients.
On the stock market today, SQ stock dropped 1.9% to close at 57.64.
One would wonder about the business model in general, considering that there are several free options for digital payments including Zelle.
Not to mention that crypto payments for every day transactions are picking up steam, particularly in the developing world where fiat is shaky, and banking unreliable.
True but at retail customers still expect to use cards. There is no way around giving up 3% of the gross. That can be 50% of the net on low margin sales. It is ridiculous. Traveling in Europe can be frustrating because a lot of businesses refuse to accept card payments. It’s understandable though
It turns out that the Federal Reserve is making it possible for consumers and businesses to transfer money free of charge through infrastructure they have recently built. It is branded FedNow Service and it is provided to banks and credit unions for free. The institutions, in turn, can provide the service to their customers for free.
I agree with the downgrade of Block’s stock. Their business model doesn’t look sustainable in my opinion. There are simply too many options emerging to pay electronically for free.
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Interesting. What do you think the privacy implications will be of increased rollout of FedNow? And does anyone know if there are plans to expand it to international payments?