Square has revealed that 7 million people used its cash app during the month of December.
According to Recode, the company disclosed the numbers in its quarterly letter to shareholders, explaining that the 7 million “active customers” either received or sent money using the Cash app in December 2017. People who only opened the app are not counted in the metric.
In addition, Cash customers spent more than $90 million during the month, with the No. 1 and No. 2 most popular merchants on the receiving end of Cash payments being McDonald’s and Walmart.
Recode points out that while the holiday season might be responsible for the surge, money-transfer services seem to be less seasonal than other payment methods, such as credit-card spending.
Cash is currently the top free finance app in Apple’s U.S. iPhone App Store — one spot ahead of PayPal and three spots ahead of Venmo. Yet back in August, Verto Analytics estimated that Venmo had 10 million unique monthly users compared to an estimated three million for Cash. There has also been speculation that Venmo has at least two times the number of monthly customers as Cash.
But these new numbers are proof that Cash has become a force in the money-transfer market.
The app generates revenue by charging customers a 1 percent fee to access same-day withdrawal of the money they’ve received (if they don’t want to pay the fee, they will get the money the next business day). The app also makes money by allowing businesses to accept customer payments through the app.
In 2016, Square Cash launched its Cash Virtual Card into its iOS app, which enables customers to create a virtual Visa debit card so they can spend their Square Cash anywhere that accepts Visa online. It also allows users to store money alongside the ability to send money to recipients.