Square is adding yet another string to its bow as it continues trying to be as many things as possible to as many people as possible.
Customers of Square’s peer-to-peer payments tool, Square Cash, can now store money inside the app for the first time. Its new Cash Drawer feature means that users can stash cash they receive inside the app or transfer money in from directly from their own bank account, sitting somewhere between a digital wallet and a current account. This isn’t Square’s first foray into this space of course, launching and then shuttering Square Wallet back in 2014.
Square touts the feature as a cash management tool to help customers budget for future expenses like rent or meals out. If they want to ‘cash out’ they can transfer any cash stored in the app immediately to their bank account. Customers will not accrue any interest on cash sitting in the app and can opt out of the feature if they don’t want to use it.
“Cash Drawer gives anyone the ability to stash cash they receive directly in the app or add their own from their bank account, making it easier to set aside funds for future costs like dinners out with friends, or upcoming payments like your monthly rent,” says the firm.
The move sees the company move closer into competition with PayPal, but more directly with P2P app Venmo, which PayPal owns though its Braintree acquisition. Venmo seems to be on a roll right now, announcing that in January more than $1bn in payments were made using the service, ten times more than in 2014. The firm is starting to experiment with building Venmo payments into third party apps.
Square will announce its Q4 earnings next week.
Whitepapers
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