FDIC deposit insurance up to $250,000 per depositor per insured bank, per ownership category. For chartered banks, cover is direct. For fintechs operating under a partner-bank (BaaS) model, cover is "pass-through" and applies at the partner bank, not at the fintech.
Important. This product is offered through a partner-bank (BaaS) model. Customer deposits are held at Sutton Bank and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., FDIC-insured to $250,000 per depositor on a pass-through basis. The fintech itself is NOT a chartered bank and is NOT separately FDIC-insured — verify the partner bank's FDIC certificate via BankFind before relying on the cover.
Primary source: https://banks.data.fdic.gov/bankfind-suite/bankfind
Block, Inc., not a bank
Cash App is a product of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) — the same parent that owns Square. Block is a public-company fintech, not a chartered bank. Cash App's banking-style features are delivered through partner banks under a BaaS model.
Four products, four protection regimes
The Cash App surface looks unified inside the app, but it spans four legally distinct product types. Treating them all as one balance is the most common safety mistake:
- Cash App balance. Held at FDIC-insured partner banks via pass-through; covered to $250,000 per depositor per partner bank, current as of editorial verification on 2026-04-29.
- Cash App Card. A Visa debit card issued by Sutton Bank. Spending pulls from your Cash App balance — same FDIC protection as the balance itself.
- Cash App Investing. Stock and ETF holdings via Cash App Investing LLC, a Member FINRA / SIPC broker-dealer. Not FDIC. SIPC protects against broker-dealer failure, not market loss.
- Bitcoin. Custodied by a Block affiliate. Not FDIC, not SIPC. If Cash App's crypto custody fails, the recovery path is contract and bankruptcy law — not deposit insurance.
FDIC pass-through scope
For the cash balance only, FDIC pass-through applies to $250,000 per depositor per partner bank, subject to the standard custodial-account record-keeping requirements. Per the Cash App Terms of Service, balances may be held at Sutton Bank or Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. — verify both certificates via the FDIC's BankFind Suite before sizing exposure. As with any partner-bank fintech, the $250,000 ceiling aggregates across other fintechs that share the same sponsor bank.
2023 outage and ongoing fraud-dispute concerns
Cash App had a high-profile multi-day outage in 2023 that left customers unable to send or receive funds; deposits were never at risk, but the scale of the disruption highlighted the operational fragility of consumer fintechs without a bank charter. Independent of that, Cash App has been the subject of persistent regulatory and consumer-complaint attention over fraud-dispute handling and Reg E response timeliness — a workflow issue, not a deposit-protection one, but worth knowing if you treat Cash App as your primary checking surface.
Verdict
For the cash balance and Cash App Card, FDIC coverage is real and sufficient for typical consumer balances. For Bitcoin and stocks, the protection regime is entirely different — don't treat them as bank deposits. The most underrated risk is the dispute-handling track record, not the FDIC mechanic.
FDIC pass-through coverage is per partner bank, not per fintech. If you hold funds at multiple Chime-style fintechs that share the same partner bank, your $250,000 FDIC limit aggregates across those balances. Crypto holdings, brokerage cash awaiting investment, and overdraft-protection lines are NOT FDIC-insured — verify product type before assuming cover. Reg E provides limited-liability rights for unauthorised electronic-fund transfers when reported within the statutory window.