ACH for Bitcoin
Purchases

Problem

Over 50% of high-value debit cash-ins were failing due to bank declines, a significant drop-off for customers trying to purchase Bitcoin. In preparation for Bitcoin day in April '26', in which Cash App was going to giveaway $1 million in bitcoin for those who made purchases, we needed to ensure customers didn't run into a bad experience. ACH became the proposed fix: a more reliable payment rail for large transactions. But the design work hadn't started, and engineering was blocked.

I volunteered to help the team. It was a domain I'd never touched so I had to ramp across Transfers and Bitcoin simultaneously.

My approach

• 01 Prioritized core flows immediately to unblock engineering, ramping up strategically to get things done before I'd fully outlined all the surfaces.
• 02 Identified all touchpoints and details: split payment selection states, existing or new banks, purchase restrictions, emails & push notifs, and restricted balance paradigms across Activity Feed and Money Tab.
• 03 Defined the restricted-balance paradigm, new to the product and set the pattern for future work.
• 04 Worked through remaining edge cases methodically while the core flow moved into engineering, keeping both tracks unblocked in parallel.

Designs

Previously, customers could only purchase Bitcoin with their Cash Balance and a debit card. Beyond allowing banks as a new payment method, I introduced new capabilities into the Bitcoin purchase flow including nudging to use ACH for high value purchases, being able to see and select the funding method, and communicating withdrawal restrictions during the purchase and sell flows.

I designed them to feel native to the existing Bitcoin buy experience while introducing the new payment rail clearly. Key decisions included how to surface ACH as an option without disrupting the default debit path, and how to handle restricted balances consistently.

Edge cases drove most of the design work: partial availability states, withholding scenarios, and how Activity Feed communicates ACH-funded purchases differently from debit.