Nowadays, money exists in the craziest forms. From Bitcoins to Apple Pay, it seems that no new payment idea is too outlandish. Heck, you might even be able to pay someone through something like Snapchat.
Oh, wait. That’s actually happening.
On Monday, Snapchat users were sent a video from the folks at the Snapchat HQ (a.k.a. teamsnapchat) that introduced Snapcash to the world.
Essentially, the new feature is a user-to-user money sharing service. One simply needs to set up his or her debit card with the Snapcash account and type in any monetary amount to be able to send money to other users. Hopefully, you don’t add an extra zero.
This seems sketchy enough, especially since Snapchat has had publicity in the past year regarding its security problems. However, the new feature is actually being done through a partnership with Square, Inc., the company who brought the Square Reader (the mobile credit card reader) to the masses.
So it might seem that there is a little bit of legitimacy for Snapchat’s newest endeavor.
Even with the security that may or may not come with Snapcash, the question still remains: why should we care?
Square, Inc. launched Square Cash in 2013, which is basically what Snapcash is modeled after. The only real difference is that Snapchat’s target audience is mainly teenagers who, for the most part, have disposable income at the ready.
Snapcash requires users to be 18 years or older, though, and debit cards must be either Visa or MasterCard. Why not cut out the middle-man and just use Square Cash if there are such restrictions?
The bottom line is that Snapcash, as shiny and new as it is, is unnecessary. We really don’t need any more ways to get our information out there and our money stolen.
Leave the transactions to the bank and stick to the selfies, Snapchat.
