Any business can now take payment using a $Cashtag

$Cashtags enable businesses to use Square Cash's platform to take immediate payments from customers online.

Despite their inconvenience, over 13 billion checks are still written every year for over USD 1 trillion. In 2013 Square Cash launched their peer-to-peer payment service, enabling easier money transfer between friends and family. Now they are expanding their service to include payments to businesses as well, with the introduction of $Cashtags.

Square Cash’s original service requires the user making the payment to know the phone number and email address of the recipient, which usually works well for peer-to-peer transfers. However, businesses are unlikely to share that private information, which precludes them from the service. Looking to solve this, the company has now introduced $Cashtags — a unique identifier that enables companies to secure private payments through Square Cash. Businesses simply create and register their $Cashtag — a memorable name such as $Springwise — via the Cash app or website. They can then share it with their customers on business cards, websites, twitter accounts or anywhere else appropriate. Customers can then make payments to the company via the Cash app or website.

Numerous businesses, artists and non-profits are already using $Cashtags as a means of taking donations and payments for products and services. Businesses pay 1.5 percent per transaction and most payments deposit within seconds to the recipient’s bank account. What other companies could make use of this service?