Need cash but the bank account’s empty? No problem, try the ATM — the peer-to-peer (P2P) ATM, that is. Crowdfunding and P2P lending have become mainstream concepts. Kickstarter is practically a household word and Venmo is plastered all over the New York subway system. In the coming months, a company called Mercuri Systems plans to introduce a P2P ATM product called Spare. Few details are available at this point, but it seems that users who are able to “spare some cash” can use a mobile app to prime an ATM machine for a friend to make a withdrawal of those funds. Users that “need some cash” can also put in requests on the app to let friends know it’s time to pony up. Allowing P2P payments to go through cash access machines is both a logical growth in functionality for P2P payments as well as a natural step forward from ATM machines that allow cardless withdrawals to be primed beforehand and then activated using QR codes. Much of the effectiveness of this product will depend on the network of participating ATMs. If the functionality could be extended across international boundaries, that would greatly increase its utility. It is also unclear how [...]
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