Peer to peer payment technologies are on the rise with trustworthy apps such as Venmo, PayPal and Zelle. It’s a tough business to be a part of when you don’t have the numbers or the credibility, as demonstrated by Snapchat which will soon be terminating Snapcash.
TechCrunch made this discovery thanks to a code buried on the Snapchat Android app, which stated that Snapcash will no longer be available after an unknown date. The website contacted Snapchat for comment and the company replied confirming that Snapcash’s services would on August 30th, and so would their partnership with Square Inc.
“Yes, we’re discontinuing the Snapcash feature as of August 30, 2018. Snapcash was our first product created in partnership with another company – Square. We’re thankful for all the Snapchatters who used Snapcash for the last four years and for Square’s partnership!”
Aside from the low amount of users that Snapchat has been reporting, TechCrunch claims that Snapcash had a reputation for being used to pay for erotic content and for the services of adult performers. These rumors are unconfirmed but closing a service to avoid a PR scandal sounds like a good explanation behind this decision.
Snapchat is still trying to survive, developing it’s services and trying to become a more commerce oriented application. While the company has been forced to let go of employees, it’s still planning to introduce new features that allow users to shop within the app. Snapchat’s Android code contains a feature called “Eagle”, which would gives users the ability to scan a barcode with the app’s camera, showing them the results on Amazon. It’s not known if this feature will debut any time soon.
