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Cash App (formerly Square Cash) is a
digital wallet A digital wallet, also known as an e-wallet or mobile wallet, is an electronic device, online service, or software program that allows one party to make electronic transactions with another party bartering digital currency units for goods and s ...
for American consumers. Launched by
Block, Inc. Block, Inc. (formerly Square, Inc.) is an American technology company and a financial services provider for consumers and merchants. Founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey, it is the U.S. market leader in Point of sale, point-of-sale systems. As of 20 ...
in 2013, it allows users to send, receive or save money, access a debit card, invest in stocks or
bitcoin Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; Currency symbol, sign: ₿) is the first Decentralized application, decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under ...
, apply for personal loans, and file taxes. As of 2024, Cash App reports 57 million users and $283 billion in annual inflows. Cash App was launched in 2013 as a person-to-person money transfer service and was called ''Square Cash''. In 2015, the service expanded to support transactions involving businesses. Over time, it introduced additional features, including debit cards, savings accounts, bitcoin and stock investing, tax filing and personal loans, and was rebranded as Cash App. As of 2024, the service operates as a mobile app-based digital wallet, and is the preferred payment app among lower-income adults in the U.S.


History


2013–2015: Launch, early years

Cash App was launched by Block, Inc. (then named Square, Inc.) on 13 October 2013. It was originally branded as Square Cash. It aimed to help users send money to one another with a debit card via email or text message, regardless of what bank each party used. Block's cofounder
Jack Dorsey Jack Patrick Dorsey (born November 19, 1976) is an American businessperson, who is a co-founder of Twitter, Inc. and its CEO during 2007–2008 and 2015–2021, as well as co-founder, principal executive officer and chairman of Block, Inc. (deve ...
and Brian Grassadonia contributed to the product creation. Square Cash allowed users to send up to $2,500 a week in several transactions or all at once, and worked only in the U.S. It was meant only for person-to-person money transfers, and not for online or off-line shopping. In August 2014, Block said that Square Cash users had sent "hundreds of millions of dollars" to one another. In March 2015, Square introduced Square Cash for businesses. This allowed individuals, organizations, and business owners to create a unique username to send and receive money, known as a ''$cashtag''.


2016–2020: Feature additions

In September 2016, Cash App announced a guarantee of "instant deposit" for the money received via Cash App, if the user agreed to pay a 1% fee. Users would otherwise see deposits post to their Cash App account on the next business day. Block also introduced virtual payment cards that allow Cash App users to make purchases on websites and apps using money stored in the app. In January 2018, Cash App added support for
bitcoin Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; Currency symbol, sign: ₿) is the first Decentralized application, decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under ...
trading. In October 2019, Cash App added support for
stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
trading to users in the United States. In November 2020, Square announced it was acquiring
Credit Karma Credit Karma is an American multinational personal finance company founded in 2007. It has been a brand of Intuit since December 2020. It is best known as a free credit and financial management platform, but its features also include monitori ...
Tax, a free do-it-yourself tax-filing service, for $50 million and would make it a part of its Cash App unit.


2021–present: Growth, U.S. focus

In 2021, Block announced an extension of the Cash App service to people over 13 years old for depositing and spending money or sending it to friends. Minors would not have access to investing or bitcoin features, however, and would still need their parent or guardians’ permission and significant oversight to use the app. According to a
Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It ...
report in September 2022, Cash App was found to have been used at least once by 26% of U.S. adults. The report also stated that lower-income adults were the most likely to use the app over other payment apps. In August 2023, Block announced a closure of Cash App's operations in the European Union under the "Verse" brand, citing a lack of growth and profitability in the market. On September 7 and 8, 2023, Cash App experienced a service outage, affecting peer-to-peer payments and cash card purchases for thousands of users. Block stated on September 8 that the service was restored successfully by that day. In February 2024, the service reported 57 million monthly transacting user accounts, $14.7 billion in revenues and $248 billion in inflows for the year 2023. In June 2024, Block announced it was dropping its plan to launch Cash App in Australia. In the following month, Cash App announced it would cease operations in the United Kingdom on September 15, 2024. In August 2024, Cash App settled a $15 million
class-action A class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage R ...
settlement for data and security breaches at the service. Users whose accounts were accessed without their authorization or who had fraudulent withdrawals or transfers could file claims for up to $2500, provided they had an account between August 23, 2018, and August 20, 2024. The class-action pointed a security breach in 2021, and another in 2023. As part of the settlement, Cash App and Block also agreed to take steps toward strengthening
data security Data security or data protection means protecting digital data, such as those in a database, from destructive forces and from the unwanted actions of unauthorized users, such as a cyberattack or a data breach. Technologies Disk encryption ...
, while denying any wrongdoing. In January 2025, Block agreed to pay, as part of a settlement, a fine of $80 million to a group of 48 state financial regulators after the agencies determined the company had insufficient policies for policing
money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
through Cash App. As part of the settlement, the company also agreed to involve an independent consultant to review its
Bank Secrecy Act The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (BSA), also known as the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, is a U.S. law requiring financial institutions in the United States to assist U.S. government agencies in detecting and preventing money laun ...
and anti-money laundering program, and report back to the states on any deficiencies. Block stated at the time that the issues were mainly related to Cash App's prior compliance program, and the company has significantly increased investment in compliance and risk management. In February 2025, Block reported that Cash App had $16.25 billion in annual revenues and $282.9 billion in annual inflows for the year 2024.


Services


Banking

The service allows users to send, receive, and store money within the United States, although international transfers were not initially supported. Users can transfer money out of Cash App to a bank account in their country. The Cash Card is a customizable
debit card A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either ...
that allows users to spend their money at various retailers and withdraw cash from an ATM. When signing up for the Cash Card, users can customize it by selecting a color, adding stamps, drawing on it, and even making the card glow in the dark. The card with the final design is mailed to the user. As of March 7, 2018, the Cash App supports automated clearing house (ACH) direct deposits. Cash App also supports cash deposits, called "Paper Money Deposits": cash is taken to a participating retailer, who scans a
barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, Machine-readable data, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly ref ...
to deposit the money with Cash App, which charges a fee of $1 or more, depending on the retailer. As of August 2024, Cash App offers a 4.5% annual percentage yield (APY) on savings, provided that the account is set up to receive a monthly
direct deposit A direct deposit (or direct credit), in banking, is a deposit of money by a payer directly into a payee's bank account. Direct deposits are most commonly made by businesses in the payment of salaries and wages and for the payment of suppliers' acco ...
of at least $300. Balances stored on the Cash App Card are FDIC-insured through
Wells Fargo Bank Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...
for up to $250,000 per person.


Peer-to-peer money transfer

Users can request money from and transfer to other Cash App accounts via phone number, email, or $cashtag.


Cryptocurrency

In 2018, the capability to buy and sell
bitcoin Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; Currency symbol, sign: ₿) is the first Decentralized application, decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under ...
cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...
was added to the app.


Investing

In 2020, the capability to trade
stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
s was added to the app for users in the United States.


Personal loans

In October 2023, it was reported that Cash App allowed a subset of users to borrow up to $200 from the app.


Tax filing

In November 2020, Square acquired the tax-preparation division of
Credit Karma Credit Karma is an American multinational personal finance company founded in 2007. It has been a brand of Intuit since December 2020. It is best known as a free credit and financial management platform, but its features also include monitori ...
, rolling it into the Cash App offering as Cash App Taxes. The service offers online tax filing in the US, and is free to use for consumers, as it was before the acquisition. In March 2023, ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' rated it "best overall", while noting that it didn't accommodate "every tax situation".


Finances

As of November 1, 2021, Square had a
market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...
of $117.4 billion. Its largest market competitor is
PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...
, which owns
Venmo Venmo is an American mobile payment service founded in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013. Venmo is aimed at users who wish to split their bills. Account holders can transfer funds to others via a mobile phone app; both the sender and receiver ...
. Other major competitors include
Apple Pay Apple Pay is a mobile payment service by Apple Inc. that allows users to make payments in person, in iOS apps, and on the web. Supported on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro, Apple Pay digitizes and can replace a credit or debi ...
, Google Pay, and Zelle.


Business model

Cash App is free to download for Android devices from
Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...
, for iOS devices from the Apple
App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...
, and other mobile store platforms. Because the app is initially free, it incentivizes more users to create an account and use its services. Additional services beyond standard money transfers are available for small initial fixed costs plus percentage fees. Cash App's primary income is from users withdrawing funds from the app to their linked bank accounts. Money can be transferred into a third-party bank account without charge within five business days, or instantly for a 1.5% fee. If users do not have a direct deposit account with the app, they will be charged a $2 fee for withdrawing money from an ATM. Cash App allows users to buy and sell bitcoin from their platform for a small service fee based on the current bitcoin market volatility. Businesses can also accept Cash App as a form of payment and charge a transaction cost of 2.75%. Like banks, Cash App can lend money deposited by users to various institutions, charging interest, known as money creation. Cash App is required to hold 10% of users' accounts
liquidity Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include: * Market liquidity In business, economics or investment, market liquidity is a market's feature whereby an individual or firm can quic ...
as part of the
fractional-reserve banking Fractional-reserve banking is the system of banking in all countries worldwide, under which banks that take deposits from the public keep only part of their deposit liabilities in liquid assets as a reserve, typically lending the remainder to ...
to protect depositors in the event of a
bank run A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many Client (business), clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe Bank failure, the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking sys ...
.


Consumer safety and fraud

Cash App is among a group of peer-to-peer payment platforms—such as Zelle,
Venmo Venmo is an American mobile payment service founded in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013. Venmo is aimed at users who wish to split their bills. Account holders can transfer funds to others via a mobile phone app; both the sender and receiver ...
,
Apple Pay Apple Pay is a mobile payment service by Apple Inc. that allows users to make payments in person, in iOS apps, and on the web. Supported on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro, Apple Pay digitizes and can replace a credit or debi ...
and Google Pay—that do not provide features to recover money sent by users to others. The app states it uses
multi-factor authentication Multi-factor authentication (MFA; two-factor authentication, or 2FA) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting two or more distinct types of evidence ...
and account transaction limits to prevent fraud. Cash App uses standard
encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...
and fraud detection technology to protect users' data. Cash App and other payment platforms including Zelle, Venmo, Apple Pay and Google Pay have been reported as targets for
Internet fraud Internet fraud is a type of cybercrime fraud or deception which makes use of the Internet and could involve hiding of information or providing incorrect information for the purpose of tricking victims out of money, property, and inheritance. Intern ...
. Common scams include customer support impersonation, fake offers and programs, and the selling of fake expensive items. There is little buyer protection, making these scams hard to dispute, unlike payment services such as
PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...
. Since the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and the rise in use of payment apps, there has been a notable increase in reported scams. In one instance, a man was scammed out of $24,000 by customer support impersonation. In another instance, a scammer used the public video of a female
Waffle House Waffle House, Inc. is an American restaurant chain with over 2,000 locations in 25 states in the United States. The bulk of the locations are in the Midwest and the South, where the chain is a regional cultural icon. The menu consists mainly o ...
worker holding a baby in a kitchen to fabricate an emotional story. The scammer used social media to share their Cash App information in the hope of receiving donations.
Millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s a ...
frequently utilize payment platforms like Cash App and Venmo to pay for illegal drugs or gamble. In June 2021, police in
West Baltimore This list of Baltimore neighborhoods includes the neighborhoods of Baltimore, Maryland, divided into nine geographical regions: North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, Northwest, and Central. Each district is patrolled by a re ...
arrested seven people for using Cash App to sell
cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
and
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
to nearby neighborhoods.


Cultural impact

In 2018, Cash App surpassed Venmo in total downloads (33.5 million cumulative), becoming one of the most popular peer-to-peer payment platforms. Cash App is mentioned by about 200 hip-hop artists in their song lyrics, leading some to assert that it is now "ingrained in hip-hop culture," with its popularity stemming from the Black community in Atlanta. Some cite the early adoption of cryptocurrencies among members of the rap community as another reason for Cash App's cultural cachet. The popularity of the app in hip-hop is reflected in Square's partnerships with prominent rappers, such as
Travis Scott Jacques Bermon Webster III (born April 30, 1991), known professionally as Travis Scott (formerly stylized as Travi$ Scott), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Scott has had five number-one hits on the U.S. ''Bil ...
,
Megan Thee Stallion Megan Jovon Ruth Pete (born February 15, 1995), known professionally as Megan Thee Stallion, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Megan initially gained recognition when videos of her freestyling began to circulate widely on social me ...
, and
Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Cephus (; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Noted for her unfiltered public image and lyrics, Cardi B is one of the most successful female rappers. From 2015 to early 2017, she ga ...
. Social media influencers frequently use Cash App to request donations from their followers. Every Friday since 2017,
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
users retweet posts from the official Cash App account with the #SuperCashAppFriday
hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...
to potentially win $10,000 to $50,000. These posts often have a notable amount of engagement.


References


External links

* {{Digital payment providers Block, Inc. Online payments Mobile payments 2013 software