Cash App: Much More Than Cash.

As a college student who has always been interested in Fintech, as well as cryptocurrency, being introduced to Cash App was a blessing. Previously, I had been using Venmo and Paypal to send payments, as well as Coinbase to purchase my Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. Little did I know there was something better waiting.

According to their press page, “Cash App is the easiest way to send money, spend money, save money, and buy cryptocurrency. We believe in providing everyone with access to important financial services so they can fully participate in the economy” — and they stay true to their word. By having a minimal interface, incorporating instantaneous deposits, and giving the ability to purchase Bitcoin and Stocks, Cash App has truly become the best applications in the finance category.

Interface

Cash App’s interface is seamless, very minimalistic, and easy to use. It allows anyone to pick up the app and use it without a problem. But it almost too minimalistic. One thing I have come across that pushes my buttons is verifying a transaction. When I go to deposit or send money to someone, after I select a recipient and choose how much money is being sent, Cash App does a face scan and sends the money automatically. However, on other transactions, such as withdrawals, it has a confirmation page showing the details of the transaction they are about to initiate. This discrepancy has the potential to cause - and has caused on my end - numerous mistakes of how much the user is sending or depositing. This negative is made up for with their new iMessage extension for Apple devices, where you can request and send money straight through text.

Deposits and Fees

One thing that Cash App has that neither Coinbase, PayPal, nor Venmo have is instantaneous deposits. All three of these competitor applications require the user to wait five business days to use or withdraw their funds. This was an issue for me when I wanted to quickly have money in my actual account. With Cash App, you can have access to your funds immediately to send to others, withdraw, and other things. There are no fees for peer to peer transactions using your debit card or bank; and there is only a 3% fee on credit card transactions as opposed to PayPal’s 3.7% fee for both debit and credit cards.

Diversifying Assets

One last functionality that Cash App offers is the purchasing of Bitcoin and, more recently, stocks! Currently, Coinbase allows you to purchase a plethora of cryptocurrency for a hearty fee of over 4% depending on what payment method you use. And while Robinhood allows the purchase of stocks as well as a select few Cryptocurrencies, Cash App has found a way to incorporate the best of both worlds allowing you to send and receive money from people as well as purchase fractions of stock and Bitcoin. Unfortunately, Coinbase does not allow for the purchasing of stock and Robinhood does not allow users to purchase fractions of it, so Cash App is really ahead of the game.

Cash App is revolutionary due to it being the first-ever mobile payment service to allow instantaneous usage of funds and the purchasing of Bitcoin as well as fractions of stock, whereas most brokerages do not even allow purchasing of either. I would highly recommend that someone who wants to easily purchase stocks and Bitcoin without any commitment should take a look at this app. I am still using it today and am very happy with my experience so far.