There was a time, in the not so distant past, when Square was the preeminent giant of the mobile payments world. And while its formidable presence persists, numerous competitors have made the mobile payments industry far more competitive than many could have predicted only a short time ago.
With heavyweights like Apple Pay and PayPal growing by leaps and bounds every month, it comes as no surprise that Square is ready to step up its game.
“So we’re excited to announce today that Square Cash is now available for businesses everywhere in the U.S.,” the company announced Monday. “We deposit payments directly into your bank account (as opposed to a holding account), and offer an aggressive and affordable professional rate of only 1.5%.”
But businesses aren’t being paid by just their friends and family. They need to market themselves to everyone, without necessarily giving away private information like their e-mail address and phone number. That’s why today we’re also introducing $Cashtags, a unique identifier that enables anyone to create a personalized name like $ErinHills or $SunsetPhotography and get paid privately and securely through Square Cash.
According to the description provided by Square, these so-called “$Cashtags” serve as a notification to consumers that they can pay at a business using Square Cash.
