Cross River Bank is joining forces with fintech PayTile to deliver a peer-to-peer payments app that uses geo-location technology.
Powered by Cross River, PayTile’s P2P product is aiming to bring digital payments to areas where physical cash still dominates, such as tipping a valet or shopping at the farmers market.
The experience is like the iPhone’s AirDrop functionality - users can send money to people nearby without having to exchange username, legal name, email or phone number with the recipient.
PayTile is also launching Money Drop, which takes the app beyond just P2P payments. Without any hardware, PayTile can digitally place cash or other digital goods at an exact location for users to pick up and redeem.
The firm says that business partners plan to use Money Drop to draw a physical crowd via incentives, such as selling discounted tickets at a stadium or offering coupons to celebrate the opening of a brick-and-mortar establishment.
“PayTile’s mission is to make digital payments as private as cash and as safe as a card,” says Anu Vora, CEO, PayTile. “While traditional P2P apps exist to pay the people you already know, PayTile exists to safely pay people you don’t know.”