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Comment by guelo | Hacker News Reader

Sounds similar to Square's Cash, exploiting an ACH trick. Except setting up Cash for sending is magnitudes easier then setting up Wallet.

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You don't need an account of any kind if you are the receiver here. You just put in a debit card and you get the money.

So it's easier for the receiver but still requires a Wallet account for the sender.

All that's left is to do this exact same thing but in reverse. Let a GW user send a secure REQUEST link that only requires card information to pay.

> You don't need an account of any kind if you are the receiver here. You just put in a debit card and you get the money. So it's easier for the receiver but still requires a Wallet account for the sender.

Isn't that exactly how Square Cash works?

No? Unless it's completely changed since I used it last. You could send an SMS but it was a link to create an account (or $CashTag or whatever they call it) with the app. Then you put in your debit card. Then you can accept the cash.

Gotcha. Sorry, I've only used it once and don't remember creating an account, but apparently I did.

It absolutely could have changed since I've used it. I'm hearing you might not need an "account" any more but you still need the app and/or some kind of quick verification? Probably worth checking out again.

In either case, I like that with Wallet you don't even need an app.

Don't need an app either. Can all be done in a browser.

Well that's great news. It wasn't always that way. I'm glad to hear it is.

There's no account creation flow on Square Cash. Just put in your debit card to receive the funds (and possibly some additional verification if you trip up the fraud algo)

How does GW know where to deposit the money based on a Debit Card?

Im assuming the Debit card can trace back to the routing / checking account number associated with the checking account.

It uses a reverse ACH trick. It's like charging the debit card, but in reverse. It's also why it's nearly instantaneous.

Square's Cash app does the same thing.

It files a refund, basically. It just happens to be a refund for a non-existent initial purchase.

relevant link: https://developer.visa.com/vpp/

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