The company founded by the eccentric Jack Dorsey, who is also the founder of Twitter, has come under fire for its aggressive business practices and the various laxities with which it adheres to banking regulations.

Led by the famous short-seller Hindenburg Research, which was much talked about a few weeks ago by bringing down the Indian oligarch Gautam Adani, the offensive against Block has hit the mark since the price lost 15% as soon as the report was published.

Among other things, Block and its famous Cash App - very popular with drug dealers - are accused of being used primarily by criminals - a gang in Baltimore called themselves the "Cash Apps"! - and to superbly ignore the most basic control procedures.

Whether these elements are founded or not - the next few weeks will tell us - did investors need Hindenburg Research to suspect a bad wind?

Valued until yesterday at $40 billion, Block has gone from €200 million to $17.5 billion in revenue between 2012 and 2022 - assuming, of course, that the company doesn't screw the market with questionable revenue recognition practices, which can't be ruled out given the nature of the business.

On the other hand, it has never made a profit. The positive accounting results between 2019 and 2021 are the result of an exceptional asset disposal in 2019, a providential revaluation of an investment in DoorDash in 2020, and an abnormally low amount of provisions in 2021.

What about the $20 billion spent on Bitcoin over the last three years? The usual gargantuan stock option payouts? Massive insider sales, including by Jack Dorsey? The multiple warnings issued by the various American regulators?

Maybe nothing in particular, except that Hindenburg chose an easy target here.