Have you ever wanted to wave a magic wand at something and make it yours? Well, now you can, as long as you have enough money in your checking account to pay.
Financial Softwarea digital payment service powered by Block ithas offered its users the ability to use physical cards for free since 2017. Now, anyone with a Cash App card can pay $25 to turn that card into a pearly, sparkling stick. Wherever you can use tap-to-pay with your phone or card, you’ll be able to buy something with the touch of a stick instead.
The stick is a whimsical way to introduce Silver Software Labels, the company’s new hardware product. Tags are physical NFC-enabled devices that will eventually come in an array of shapes and sizes. They don’t have to be connected via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. To link one to a Cash App account, you simply hold the device to the back of the phone, and it will link the wand to the account. (You’ll need to register a Cash Program card first.) Then, the stick works like a debit card. Although it is even more adorable that it can be attached to a key chain as a charm bracelet.
Courtesy of Cash App
Providing information about your payment seems to be the key here. Thomas Templeton, Block’s hardware lead, says that while digital payments have made shopping faster and easier, it has also made the shopping process quieter, almost invisible. She thinks shopping should be fun—a conversation starter. Even the Cash App cards, which he says people only put in their pockets 90 percent of the time, don’t have enough traction. The purpose of the wand is to place the charging device “on top of the wallet.”
“At Cash App, we think payments should be the opposite,” Templeton says. “It should be visible. It should be fun. And social and expressive.”
What a Roaming World
I had the chance to wave a wand to buy things for a couple of days. The product definitely works and attracts people’s attention. “Do whatever makes you happy,” the cashier at the coffee shop told me when I asked to pay with a stick.
My stick was rejected trying to buy a bear bag at a smoke shop, but that’s because my card wasn’t set up properly yet. Once I got things done, I was able to tap a stick to pay for coffee, Taco Bell, and beer after work. (Okay, work time. You got me.) I’ve paid my fare on San Francisco’s Muni trains, tapping the stick and looking at the entrance section in front of me. For just $2.85, I felt like Gandalf.
“It’s just fun,” Templeton says. “A little bit from the Cash App business point of view, and more from a user point of view, it’s cool and fun and funny, and people like that.”
