Square Cash is Open for Business

Let’s be honest: you don’t like checks. You don’t like paying with a check, and you really don’t like getting paid with one. Yet even today, in 2015, you write a lot of them: over 13 billion checks every year are written for over $1 trillion.

We introduced Square Cash in 2013 as the fastest, easiest way to pay anyone. All you needed was a phone number or email address, and a debit card. We launched the service for individuals, streamlining payments for everything from splitting the dinner bill to sharing vacation costs. And we’ve come a long way in a short time: we’re now processing over one billion dollars in peer-to-peer payments annualized. You’ve shown your love for Square Cash with thousands of 5-star ratings in the App Store and Google Play, and by inviting friends and family to try the service in droves.

Individuals aren’t the only ones who don’t like checks. They’re inconvenient for businesses too, whether you’re a landlord, a lawyer, a dogwalker, or an interior decorator. We think everyone should have access to a fast, affordable way to get paid, without the inconvenience or lack of security of cash and paper checks.

So we’re excited to announce today that Square Cash is now available for businesses everywhere in the U.S. 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. $Cashtags can be posted anywhere to let people know they can pay you with Square Cash, either from the Cash app or on the web at https://cash.me

We think $Cashtags are a fantastic marketing service that lets your customers, donors, fans, or even friends pay you quickly and securely. Many artists, musicians, and social media stars now accept payments with their $Cashtags. Curtis Kulig, a New York City-based artist known for his iconic 'Love Me' campaign, uses $LoveMe to fund new public art projects. Joy Cho, an avid Pinterest user and designer with over 13M followers, uses $OhJoy to accept payments from her various clients.

Even America’s leading non-profits – like Wikipedia ($Wikipedia), (RED) ($RED), Khan Academy ($KhanAcademy),The USO ($USO), and The Bay Area’s KQED ($KQED) – are using $Cashtags to use Square Cash for fundraising.

Anyone can claim their $Cashtag today by downloading the app or visiting cash.me.

So whether you put your $Cashtag on your business card, website, Pinterest profile, or at the end of your YouTube video, we hope the question “How should I pay you?” will end with a simple answer: Cash.me. 

Posted by: Brian Grassadonia, Square Cash Lead