josecorai XYZ

Engineer & Investor.

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."

―Friedrich Nietzsche

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

@ElectricPineAve Yes, I agree.

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

And I understand that it is more sexy to speak about AI, its shinny or dark future or if we are in a bubble.
But overlook or ignore the conflict happening between US, Israel, Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia is foolish.

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

Something that worries me:
I watch a lot of Stock & Financial podcasts/news, none of them are worried about Middle East conflict.
The situation there is pretty serious, there has not been major escalation from US side due to proximity to mid-terms but this 2-3 next weeks things will boil up and the consequences, I am affraid, would be much more severe than people think.

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

@ElectricPineAve The oil flows were back to almost previous levels, that lasted like 2 weeks and then after that the flows has come down again, due to Iran intensified the stuck of vessels in the Strait.
Could you detail more on Trump been the real problem?

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

Yeah, on that regard yes, but it feels like most commentators are dimisnishing it or even ignoring it.
Maybe I am too pessimist on that front, but it feels like is a conflict that is far from resolved and can spread to more neighbour countries, and that the consequences of an escalation could have much bigger impact just some temporary higher inflection.

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

And I understand that it is more sexy to speak about AI, its shinny or dark future or if we are in a bubble.
But overlook or ignore the conflict happening between US, Israel, Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia is foolish.

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

Something that worries me:
I watch a lot of Stock & Financial podcasts/news, none of them are worried about Middle East conflict.
The situation there is pretty serious, there has not been major escalation from US side due to proximity to mid-terms but this 2-3 next weeks things will boil up and the consequences, I am affraid, would be much more severe than people think.

[Gonzalo @gonziver]

El mejor video que verás hoy.
"¿Sos boluda o te entrenás temprano?"

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

@Saul_Bloom haha, yeah it does, it really does. But not sure if I have fully healed that wound...

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

@nachunja Must be tough to stomach a whole month with -96% of your principal.

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

@FintechKristen @Shopify @tobi @rohitmishra Congrats! All best!

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

@BlockWhaleXYZ @jack Happy birthday! Have a good one!

[Block Whale @BlockWhaleXYZ]

🚨NEIGHBORHOODS 🚨

⚠️ An emergency situation:

I had started to sense over the last few weeks that we aren't seeing the buzz, hype, and viral sharing of Neighborhoods that we should be

And I was correct, we are not seeing any of the above

The Square support message boards shows the rollout has in fact caused confusion and annoyance - exactly what we don't want

So why hasn't Neighborhoods created the excitement and magic that we all know it can ?

In my opinion, the explanations and incentives haven't been good enough

🗣️ Explanations:

We have to accept as a starting point that most people still have no clue, that Square and CashApp are owned by the same company

Many of the message boards appear to think the CashApp QR codes and prompts for Neighborhoods that are popping up on the Square POS is unwanted spam.

It's increasing friction in the payment line, and needs sorting out quickly.

I imagine Block will have sent out some sort of marketing email to the Square sellers, but many people appear to not to have a) not read this themselves, and b) not passed this info on to the workers actually operating the POS.

In addition to that, the project appears to have been launched without a large volume of tutorial videos from the CashApp and Square perspective.

There has been minimal / no marketing videos showing how the concept works and generating excitement.

Jack has previously said in his own words, that Block should never been seen as rude and need to meet the customer where they are at. Something for everyone to consider when doing their own review of this.

💰 Incentives:

Make the incentives good enough and people will use it. So the current incentives are also not working.

It's a brand new ambitious project, and it needs gasoline throwing on it to get it properly up and running.

It clearly needs to incentivise repeat custom the most, to create habit formation.

So they have to weight the bonuses, and introduce prizes, that reward purchase streaks at the same store. And also for completing a certain amount of Square sellers within a specific geographic area.

Also, whilst we are in a lunch phase, throw in some bigger cash prizes that are given out at random and also based off performance metrics for both the square seller and cash app customer.

Block advertised a $1m prize pot for CashApples and Bitcoin Faucet.

LITERALLY DO THE SAME FOR NEIGHBOURHOODS

Advertise that there are $1m in prizes being paid out in different denominations. From big to small.

The people on the Square message boards will suddenly stop whining, and start hustling to pump this thing.

And we will see viral content explode, as CashApp customers stampede their way into the Square sellers on the hunt for prizes and bonuses.

💫 Summary:

There is frustration in the air at the moment. But it is still a very positive situation.

The team has done really well building this thing out, the engineering is done, the maps look good, the tech works.

They just need to light the fuse 💣🚀

$XYZ

[Jade Warwick @TheJadeWarwick]

None of his friends have children !

Dating apps are awful.

[Goshawk Trades @GoshawkTrades]

annie duke won millions at poker and advises hedge fund traders on decision making. her warning: knowing your biases does nothing to remove them:

"traders say to me: I know about all that stuff. every morning I wake up and think, if I weren't holding these positions, would I buy them today?"

"the problem is that's only the right question if your answer is going to be rational. and once you're already in the position, it isn't. so you have an irrational answer, but you think you were rational about it. your confidence that you're in the right positions goes up even though the accuracy has not."

"you can't think your way out of confirmation bias."

her fix:

"make it explicit and write it down. any time rates fall below this benchmark after this date, I must sell. it just turns out it really matters if you decide in advance versus deciding on the fly. it makes a huge difference."

knowing the bias doesn't remove the bias. deciding in advance can.

this is why I automate. my systems all criteria written in code. every exit was agreed on before the money was ever at risk.

[Block Investor Relations @BlockIR]

Understanding money on both sides of the counter is a signal unique to Block.

Neighborhoods is our local commerce experience connecting Square sellers with Cash App customers. Since June, the network has scaled 10x to 30,000 more sellers in the network.

How it works: Neighborhoods is built around an organic growth loop: more participating Square sellers drive more local discovery in Cash App, which can lead to more customers following businesses, returning for repeat visits, and creating more value for sellers.

For customers, Local Cash makes local commerce more rewarding: they can earn 10% of their order subtotal, up to $10 per order, on qualifying purchases with participating sellers, then redeem it on a future visit.

How it connects both sides of the counter: For sellers, Neighborhoods is integrated into their existing Square Point of Sale, giving local businesses a way to encourage repeat visits without a standalone loyalty app. During an initial period, Cash App funds Local Cash, giving sellers a no-cost way to reward customers.

Once a customer follows a business on Neighborhoods, the seller can also reach them directly with marketing campaigns in Cash App.

How it's going: The network is growing. As of June 2026, Neighborhoods scaled to sellers representing $1B in annualized GPV, up more than 220% from March 2026. In June, Neighborhoods also became available on additional Square hardware, including Square Terminal, more than doubling the number of eligible sellers.

Follower spend also counts. Spend from followers reached 10% of seller GPV on average after three quarters on Neighborhoods.

What's next: We're ramping up auto-enablement across the country and testing ways to build density in local markets, including pairing seller activation with dedicated account management.

Follow as we scale the neighborhood: https://t.co/J7hkwtAiiE

[Block Investor Relations @BlockIR]

We’ve built a faster way for investors around the world to research @Blocks. Today, we're launching the Block Investor Relations Bot. Investors can now ask questions in natural language and get answers directly from Block's public materials.

🔎 Search Shareholder Letters, 10-Ks / 10-Qs, Investor Day content, and more.
📚 Source citations with every answer.
🌎 Supports multiple languages.
🛡️ Only uses publicly available IR materials.

Ask away: https://t.co/Za0SQaTj5Q

[🎩 Andy’s Football Tips @AndyRobsonTips]

Embarrassing this from Messi.

[josecorai XYZ @josecorai]

@nachunja Congrats! All best to you and your family!