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Critically Blocks response disclosed for the first time that the company has internal estimates of the number of users on the Cash App platform that differ widely from the number of “transacting actives” disclosed publicly to investors as its key user metricYesterday Block disclosed that Cash App users comprise million unique Social Security Numbers SSNs and million verified accounts The verification process is done through Blocks internal Identity Verification IDV program which it also disclosed for the first timeThese disclosures differ sharply from the misleading “transacting actives” metric Block has previously reported to investors For example in September Blocks CFO Amrita Ahuja touted the companys million annual transacting actives as a justification for its acquisition of Afterpay calling it“an incredible opportunity for us particularly when you think about leveraging that capability across Cash App million annual actives”Based on the new million to million user counts reported yesterday we now know that the cited million annual user metric was inflated by Blocks newly reported internal estimates also show that its previously reported million monthly transacting actives as of December represented a inflation of its actual estimated internal user countsBlocks new estimates give Cash App the benefit of the doubt by assuming that all the Social Security numbers used to access the platform are being used by their rightful owners and represent legitimate accounts a highly unlikely scenario given compliance lapses detailed in our reportAs also noted in our report overstatement of user metrics has implications for the calculation of customer acquisition costs CACs which the company has previously touted as being industry leading and a key indicator of its success saying its CACs are“a fraction of what other financial applications across our industry typically pay and a miniscule fraction of what traditional financial institutions have historically paid to acquire a new customer”Blocks