Buyers are reassessing Jack Dorsey’s fintech group after current block layoffs, which the corporate hyperlinks on to advances in inner AI instruments and shifting revenue targets.
Block slashes headcount as income surge
Jack Dorsey‘s firm, the mum or dad of Sq., Money App, and Afterpay, lower its workforce from over 10,000 to below 6,000 in a single day on Thursday. The choice arrived alongside This autumn 2025 earnings that confirmed 24% gross revenue progress to $2.87 billion. Furthermore, gross revenue at Money App alone surged 33%, underscoring how central the app has turn into to Block’s enterprise.
In a shareholder letter, Dorsey framed the transfer as a structural reset pushed by new know-how. “Intelligence instruments have modified what it means to construct and run an organization. A considerably smaller group, utilizing the instruments we’re constructing, can do extra and do it higher,” he wrote. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the cuts has sparked debate about whether or not AI is the actual clarification.
Following the announcement, Block‘s inventory jumped over 20% after hours, including almost $6 billion to its market capitalization. Buyers appeared to welcome the mixture of fast revenue progress and a sharply leaner price base. That stated, the long-term influence on product high quality and innovation stays an open query.
AI effectivity or easy overhiring correction?
Not everyone seems to be satisfied that synthetic intelligence is the first driver of the restructuring. Analyst Will Slaughter highlighted that Block’s headcount almost tripled from 3,900 to 12,500 between 2019 and 2022. In his view, the present cuts look extra like a reversal of aggressive pandemic-era hiring than a clear pivot to AI-powered effectivity.
Slaughter argued that “unwinding lower than half an insane COVID overhiring binge has rather more to do with Jack Dorsey’s managerial incompetence than whether or not AI goes to take your job.” His criticism displays a broader concern that executives could also be utilizing AI rhetoric to justify layoffs that stem from earlier strategic errors, fairly than real automation breakthroughs.
Dorsey, nonetheless, has publicly acknowledged the overhiring. He admitted that “sure we over-hired throughout covid as a result of I incorrectly constructed 2 separate firm buildings (Sq. & Money App) fairly than 1,” noting that Block now targets “$2M+ gross revenue per individual, 4x our pre-covid effectivity.” This new benchmark suggests a radical productiveness push, with AI anticipated to help fewer staff managing rising transaction volumes.
One other flashpoint for critics is spending self-discipline. Market commentator Bull Idea identified that Block spent $68 million on a single firm occasion in September 2025, which appeared in its monetary statements as a spike on the whole and administrative bills. He described the fee as “roughly the annual payroll for 200 staff at $340,000 every,” elevating questions on inner priorities even because the agency trims hundreds of jobs.
Satirist Alex Cohen amplified public scrutiny with a viral parody layoff submit. “I used to be fired from Block at the moment. I used to be the PM in control of altering the default tip possibility on the Sq. terminal to start out at 40%. Jack changed me with an AI agent that decides which tip quantity to indicate based mostly in your age, weight, and race.” Though clearly satire, the submit captured wider unease about how algorithmic decision-making may reshape each staffing and person experiences.
Implications for Money App and its bitcoin customers
Past workforce headlines, the restructuring has direct implications for digital-asset companies. Block operates one of many largest retail bitcoin platforms in america by way of Money App, which allows hundreds of thousands of consumers to purchase, promote, and maintain BTC. The corporate additionally runs Bitkey, a self-custody bitcoin pockets, together with Proto, a bitcoin mining {hardware} division, signaling a multi-pronged technique across the asset.
Money App generated $1.83 billion in gross revenue final quarter, up 33% yr over yr, making it Block’s dominant income and revenue engine. Furthermore, the app is central to the group’s broader financial-services ecosystem, linking funds, peer-to-peer transfers, and retail investing inside a single interface. For customers targeted on digital property, questions equivalent to “can I promote bitcoin on money app” stay tied to how steady and well-resourced the underlying infrastructure is.
In line with inner figures cited across the restructuring, roughly 40% fewer staff will now be working Money App’s infrastructure and operations. The corporate maintains that its inner block ai technique, mixed with new productiveness instruments, will enable lean groups to scale companies with out compromising reliability. Nonetheless, crypto traders will watch carefully for any indicators of service disruption, safety lapses, or slower product rollouts affecting money app bitcoin customers.
For Block’s wider bitcoin ecosystem, the stakes are related. Bitkey’s self-custody design positions it inside international bitcoin custody choices, whereas Proto helps the mining facet of the community. With fewer workers throughout the group, markets will monitor whether or not the group can preserve innovating in wallets, mining {hardware}, and retail buying and selling whereas nonetheless delivering on its formidable money app profitability progress targets.
Finally, the most recent block layoffs mark a decisive shift in how Jack Dorsey’s firm intends to steadiness AI-driven effectivity, aggressive revenue targets, and its increasing function in bitcoin infrastructure. Whether or not this leaner construction strengthens or strains Money App and associated crypto companies will turn into clearer as 2025 unfolds and person metrics, service stability, and product velocity come into sharper focus.