Cash App now sells a magic wand keychain that lets users make contactless payments at any tap-to-pay terminal.
Block's Cash App has launched the wand as a physical keychain accessory for tap-and-pay transactions. The premise is simple: hold it near a contactless reader instead of your phone. It joins a niche category of NFC keychain payment tools that have existed alongside mobile wallets for years without ever displacing them.
The interesting question isn't whether a wand keychain works. It's why Cash App built one now. Apple Pay and Google Pay have held the contactless payment high ground for over a decade, and unlocking a phone to pay takes maybe two seconds. A wand offers marginal convenience at best; at worst, it is another object to lose on a keyring. But novelty earns coverage and can drive app installs, and for a payments app competing against entrenched mobile wallets, that might be the real product.
Fintech companies have shipped stranger hardware to grab attention. Whether customers actually tap this one at checkout is the part that remains to be seen.