Cash App, owned by Block (SQ), has launched a $25 NFC-powered magic wand that functions as a tap-to-pay device, directly capitalizing on a viral social media trend.
The product sold out all 10,000 available units on June 4, just hours after going live for purchase on the platform.
The wand trend originated with social media users hiding tap-to-pay cards inside homemade wands to make contactless purchases at stores and events.
TikTok influencer Becca Bloom, known for her “RichTok” lifestyle content, helped popularize the concept by laminating her husband’s credit card between two star-shaped pieces of paper to create a wand.
Bloom then took her homemade wand on a luxury shopping spree to stores including Chanel, Neiman Marcus, and Joe & The Juice, filming the entire experience for her audience.
Videos of users completing contactless purchases at supermarkets and theme parks using similar wands accumulated millions of views across social platforms.
Cash App’s magic wand is linked to the Cash App Card and works at any outlet compatible with Visa’s tap-to-pay platform, making it broadly functional across retail locations.
Users receive instant spend notifications with each transaction and can lock or unlock the wand directly from the app at any time, adding a layer of security to the novelty device.
If a user loses the wand, they can deactivate it through the app, and Cash App actively monitors fraud on all payments made through the NFC tags.
Don Apgar, Director of Merchant Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, said “the cool kids will want to have one, and the only way to get it and use it is to purchase things with Cash App.”
Apgar added that “the innovation here is riding the trend wave of wand payments as a way to introduce NFC capabilities to their platform and leveraging it as a marketing tool to acquire new users.”
The wand is the first in a broader NFC-enabled hardware lineup that Cash App plans to expand with more form factors in the coming months.
The launch fits neatly into Block’s (SQ) sustained strategy of targeting younger consumers, with one in five U.S. teens already carrying a Cash App Card.
By turning a mundane contactless payment into a theatrical and shareable moment, Cash App is betting that hardware novelty can drive meaningful user acquisition at scale.
