Square Cash, a cryptocurrency-enabled trading app, is growing three times faster than PayPal’s fiat-based Venmo, trading giant Nomura has revealed.
‘More Than Just A Bitcoin Play’
The company’s Square Cash app, which added cryptocurrency functionality in January, has defied Bitcoin price trends ever since, growing its user base despite overall Bitcoin market activity decreasing.
“Square is more than just a bitcoin play,” Dan Dolev, executive director and analyst at Nomura-owned Instinet, told CNBC July 11.
A lot of people were worried because it went up with bitcoin, but instead it’s decoupling.
Square’s crypto rollout saw major fanfare at the time, with users broadly welcoming the upgrade as something they had wished to see.
Since January, Bitcoin and altcoin markets have fallen considerably, this nonetheless failing to dent consumer confidence, Bitcoinist recently reported.
Who Cares About Price?
Downloads of Square Cash year-on-year were up over 150 percent in June, Dolev notes, also focusing on the comparatively lackluster results of Square obtaining regulator permission to serve New York residents.
“When they opened up trading in New York, you would expect a bump in downloads, but it didn’t happen – if you look at the weekly trend it actually slowed slightly,” he added.
PayPal’s Venmo meanwhile continues to focus on more traditional upgrades, in June launching a debit card attached to the app and on Thursday announcing a partnership to allow direct payments for Uber rides.
Cryptocurrency payments are meanwhile the subject of another major venture in Europe this week, exchange Binance announcing the creation of the world’s first ‘crypto bank’ in its new home jurisdiction of Malta.
Founders Bank aims to provide “progressive banking solutions tailored for the needs of decentralised companies,” chairman and co-founder Michael Bianchi said in a statement.
Binance will have a 5 percent stake in the project, which is also being sponsored by blockchain equity fundraising platform Neufund.
What do you think about Square Cash’s performance over Venmo? Let us know in the comments below!
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