DISTRIBUTED-WORK-MODEL/OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 4, 2026--
Today, Cash App is launching a new payment form factor that’s changing the shape of money. Cash App Tags are NFC-enabled, physical payment accessories that let customers pay without having to reach for their phone or card.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260604639871/en/
The first-edition Cash App Tag — the pearlescent Cash App Wand — is now available for Cash App Card holders to purchase in the app, while supplies last. Designed to match the way Gen Z expresses their style and identity, the Cash App Wand is equipped with a keychain so customers can clip, wear, and carry it with ease. Cash App Tags were built for on-the-go payments and also shine in situations where phones aren’t allowed or cumbersome to pull out, from paying for food at a venue that’s phone-free, to ordering merch at a music festival without digging through a bag for a card.
"While digital wallets are invisible and physical cards are often buried in wallets, Cash App Tags are just the opposite," said Thomas Templeton, Hardware Lead at Block. "We see a unique opportunity here to make payments visible and social for the first time. Early testers have told us that they've loved carrying the Wand and showing it off at checkout, so we believe there's a real appetite for this among our customers"
1 in 5 American teens 2 already have the customizable Cash App Card — the most popular debit card in the US among this audience 3— and use it as a vehicle for self-expression by choosing exclusive styles, stamps, and emojis, and even drawing their own designs. A recent Cash App survey of Gen Z consumers also found that 38% purchase collectibles, accessories, or limited edition items at least monthly, more than any other generation. 4 Cash App Tags meet the moment by turning the point of sale into an eye-catching extension of customers’ personal style.
The Cash App Wand is the first of multiple styles Cash App plans to introduce. In the coming weeks, the brand will drop limited runs of new Cash App Tag designs to Cash App Card holders ahead of general availability later this summer.
“We see this as an early starting point for Cash App Tags. The number of form factors we can create is nearly limitless,” added Templeton. “From clothing to jewelry, almost any item can become a way to pay with this technology. We’re looking forward to hearing what our customers want to see next.”
To get started, customers must have an active Cash App Card. They can activate their Tag by opening Cash App on their phone, then linking their Tag to their Cash App Card by following the instructions in the app. Once the Tag is activated, customers can tap to pay in less than a second without holding a phone or card.
Since Cash App Tags operate the same as the Cash App Card, they will work where Visa tap to pay is accepted and there are no minimum balance or activity requirements. Tags also have built-in security features including real-time transaction alerts, 24/7 fraud monitoring, and the ability to instantly lock and unlock the Tag within the app. Customers can also use the app to deactivate a Cash App Tag at any time.
The Wand is available starting today for $25 (plus any applicable sales tax) exclusively through Cash App. Cash App Tags are currently available for eligible customers ages 13 and up. 5
To learn more about Cash App Tags, visit cash.app/tags.
About Cash App:
Cash App is the money app. Banking* on Cash App is easy: customers can receive paychecks early with direct deposit, spend money where Visa® is accepted with a personalized Cash App Card, and grow their money with a separate savings balance - all without hidden fees. Customers can also create a unique $Cashtag to share with anyone to get paid fast, make purchases with Cash App Pay, trade stocks and buy and sell bitcoin.** With Afterpay,*** customers can also pay over time in a way that best fits their financial needs through participating merchants or directly in the app. Download Cash App for free at cash.app/download.
*Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Cash App Visa® Debit Flex Cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, , pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card and Sutton debit flex card. See cash.app for more details.
**Brokerage services provided by Cash App Investing LLC, member FINRA / SIPC, subsidiary of Block, Inc. Stablecoin and Lightning Network are not available to New York residents. Bitcoin services provided by Block, Inc. Bitcoin services are not licensable activity in all U.S. states and territories. Block, Inc. operates in New York as Block of Delaware and is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Investing and bitcoin are non-deposit, non-bank products that are not FDIC insured and involve risk, including monetary loss. Cash App Investing does not trade bitcoin and Block, Inc. is not a member of FINRA or SIPC. For additional information, see the Bitcoin and Cash App Investing disclosures.
***Afterpay is offered and managed through your Cash App account - no Afterpay account needed. Eligibility is based on several factors and is not guaranteed. Afterpay is not available in all states. Afterpay loans issued by First Electronic Bank, serviced by Square Capital, Inc. View state licenses.
Cash App Wand
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over his showcase economic forum in his hometown of St. Petersburg.
Speaking in response to a question from The Associated Press during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks.
“To our regret, some of them break through,” Putin said of the drone strikes. “Russia has an air defense system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.”
The wide-ranging media session came on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, his annual showcase for investment. Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and also hit a nearby naval base.
Putin also said Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached at his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal to end the conflict, now in its fifth year.
Also on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to Putin. Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities, saying it would be wrong to wait for the U.S. to return its attention to Ukraine while it is remains heavily focused on the Iran war.
In Washington, Trump said it “would be great” if Putin and Zelenskyy meet.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin hadn’t seen the letter yet and repeated his statement that Zelenskyy could come to Moscow if he wants talks. Putin said last month he doesn’t exclude a meeting in s third country, but only when there is a deal to sign.
Putin dismissed the idea that European Union countries could mediate Russia-Ukraine peace talks because “mediation assumes neutrality. Where is the neutrality here?”
Any potential third-party mediators needed to be trusted by both sides, Putin said.
“How can Russia trust people who have been harping about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia for years?” he said.
Commenting on Russia's use of its Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile, Putin said it was fired at targets that allowed it to test its capability and precision before using it against objectives closer to residential areas.
“We hit the area where it was convenient to see the results,” he said. “It was important for making a decision on the future on the full-format use of the Oreshnik on designated targets, including those in populated areas.”
Putin emphasized his push for control of the entire Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, noting that Ukraine controls about 15% of its territory.
Putin declared that “patriotism and will of the Russian people” will ensure the achievement of goals that Moscow set in Ukraine.
“Russian troops are advancing along the entire line of contact,” he said.
Putin said he has accepted Trump’s compromise proposals from the Alaska summit, saying they could “serve as a basis of agreements between Russia and Ukraine and put an end to the conflict."
Moscow wants a comprehensive settlement, not a temporary truce, he said.
“There is no need to suspend the hostilities to start negotiations,” he said. “Naturally, the Ukrainian side would like us to suspend the advances made by Russian troops. But it would be better to end the war by agreeing to the compromises that were discussed in Anchorage.”
Asked about an AP investigation tracking 191 incidents across Europe, including sabotage, cyberattacks, attempted assassination and other activity that Western officials say are part of a Russian-masterminded campaign, Putin replied there was no detailed proof of Moscow's involvement.
“What are the specific facts? What has been proven?” he said, adding that the accusations showed that Europe was not ready to talk to Russia as an equal partner.
“This only shows that certain political figures in the West are trying to carry out aggressive plans against the Russian Federation,” he said.
Asked whether Russia could contribute to a settlement of the war in Iran, Putin responded that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran for storage remains on the table. He noted Russia did so as part of the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, "and we are ready to do it now.”
Putin, 73, who has held power in Russia for over a quarter-century, was asked if he planned to run for another term that would keep him in office until 2036, when he'll be 83. He laughed and said he’s “not even thinking about it.”
“Only God knows if any of us will be healthy enough ... to survive until tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, much less solve the problems we face and achieve the goals we set for ourselves,” he said.
In 2020, Putin ordered amendments to the Russian Constitution that essentially reset his term limits, keeping him in power.
Wednesday's drone attack hit the nearby Kronstadt naval base and an oil terminal, sending a plume of black smoke above Russia’s second-largest city — an embarrassing blow to Putin's efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.
It also underscored Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia and showed the vulnerability of its cities. Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg’s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.
Putin had scaled down Russia’s annual Victory Day parade on May 9, fearing Ukrainian strikes. Days later, a massive drone attack on Moscow’s suburbs killed three and showed the capital’s vulnerability.
Peskov said Russia’s forces were carrying out “systematic” strikes on Kyiv. On Tuesday, Russia launched deadly attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
Putin has used the St. Petersburg forum, likened to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to showcase his country’s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. While Western officials and business leaders have stayed away after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought guests from elsewhere to underline its declared goal of promoting a “multipolar world.”
Saudi Arabia sent a large delegation this year, and the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and vice president of China also are present. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.
Russia’s economic outlook has clouded as the initial boost from military spending has fizzled. The government raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.
Asked at the media session if Russia’s economy was struggling because of the military action, Putin paraphrased Mark Twain that “rumors of my death are highly exaggerated.”
He said the economy was growing but admitted that inflation was a concern.
“We’ve deliberately taken steps to cool the economy,” Putin said of Russia’s Central Bank putting the country’s key interest rate at 14.5%, which he called “a difficult decision.”
“You can say we’ve cooled off, or you can say we haven’t done everything yet, but these are deliberate steps. We don’t want inflation – hyperinflation -- to reach 60-80%, as it is some countries,” he said. “We’re fighting for the health of the Russian economy as a whole.”
The Associated Press News Director of Europe/Africa James Jordan, center, attends Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with representatives of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during a meeting with representatives of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, looks at President of Xinhua News Agency Fu Hua, right, while speaking to representatives of international news agencies as General Director of the Russian news agency TASS, Andrey Kondrashov, left, sits near on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, foreground answers to a question by The Associated Press News Director of Europe/Africa James Jordan, back to a camera as he meets with representatives of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, background third right, meets with representatives of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with representatives of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to representatives of international news agencies on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)
People walk past a screen with an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin at an exhibition at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St.Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (Anatoly Maltsev/Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on measures to support relatives of those killed and injured in the attack on a college in Starobilsk, of the Russia-controlled Luhansk region of Ukraine, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, June 1, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
A plumes of black smoke is seen over the port of St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP Photo)
A plume of black smoke is seen over the port of St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP Photo)