https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBwjxBmMszQ
Snapchat announced yesterday the release of Snapcash, an addition to their popular app that will allow users to send monetary payments instantly to their friends through an app called Square Cash. Payments will be made by having users enter their banking information into the servers of Square Cash and sending the amount that users want to send through a private message to the recipient.
Whilst the directness and the efficiency of this system is a great benefit, many have raised concern of privacy issues regarding to this new launch. Earlier this year, it was reported that hackers compromised approximately 4.6 million user accounts (BBC News). This past October, Snapchat allegedly suffered another hacking attack (Business Insider).
With these past records in users’ invasions of privacy, users may be more reluctant to put their financial assets into the body of Snapcash. Although data will be stored in a separate server, there may still be risk in entrusting funds to this new addition. Yet, Snapchat dissuaded any of these concerns by stating on their blog, “We set out to make payments faster and more fun, but we also know that security is essential when you’re dealing with money. Square has a ton of experience in this area and our teams have been hard at work to make Snapcash a great experience for everyone.”
Although the feature will be currently only open for American users 18 and older, users from the age of 13-25 make up the majority of Snapchat’s database world-wide (Business Insider). This may or may not be the new and trendy way that youth may choose to proceed with their banking in the future. The days of good old cheques and cash payments may become stagnant as younger generations see other opportunities for paying online and through these types of apps. It seems fast and easy, but with risk. In the end, it will ultimately be the consumers who decide. Will you choose to cash in with Snapcash?