Venmo goes physical with new debit card (PYPL)

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June 27, 2017 4:22 PM

Venmo is testing a new feature that allows consumers to shop in stores with a physical debit card that's linked to their Venmo account balance

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PayPal owned peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app Venmo is testing a new feature that allows consumers to shop in brick-and-mortar stores with a physical debit card that's linked to their Venmo account balance, according to Recode.

This new feature will help the P2P company in two key ways:

Peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, defined as informal payments made from one person to another, have long been a prominent feature of the payments industry. That’s because individuals transfer funds to each other on a regular basis, whether it's to make a recurring payment, reimburse a friend, or split a dinner bill.

Over the next few years, though overall P2P spend will remain constant, a shift to mobile payments across the board and increased spending power from the digital-savvy younger generation will cause the mobile P2P industry to skyrocket.

That poses a problem for firms providing these services, though. Historically, most of these players have taken on mobile P2P at a loss because it’s a low-friction way to onboard users and won’t catch on unless it’s free, or largely free, to consumers. But as it becomes more popular and starts to eat into these firms’ traditional streams of revenue, finding ways to monetize is increasingly important.

Jaime Toplin, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on mobile P2P payments that:

You can also purchase and download the full report from our research store.

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