Dive Brief:

• Cash App has added new Bitcoin use features, parental control levers and lending options in updates to its existing services, the payment app’s parent company Block said Thursday in a press release.
• The company debuted a Bitcoin map tool, which lets app users find nearby merchants that use Block’s Square services and can accept the cryptocurrency. The app also added controls that let parents set transaction limits and block certain payments for teen users, according to the release.
• The company is also readying an “AI-powered feature” called Moneybot that will monitor users’ activity and provide suggestions on other features or in helping users with information about their account, balances and transactions, the release said. Some users have the tool now, but it will be offered to others in “coming months,” per the release.

Dive Insight:

While Block’s release highlighted some Cash App features that had been previously disclosed, it underscored the company’s aim to focus more on innovation, rapid product launches and brand awareness, TD Cowen analysts said in a note to investors Thursday. 

Publicizing new features appears to be part of Cash App’s goal of reaching “banking primacy,” the TD Cowen analysts wrote.

Other digital wallet providers jockeying for user allegiance include tech titans Apple and Google.

“The way people earn and manage money has fundamentally shifted, and traditional financial institutions haven’t kept up to meet their needs,” Block’s executive officer and business lead, Owen Jennings, said in the release. “These new products and features were designed to make money work better for them.”

Block, which is based in Oakland, California, is souping up Cash App as it doubles down on a plan to provide more lending services. 

After teaming up with Afterpay last year to introduce a buy now, pay later option on its debit card, that BNPL feature had attracted one million consumers, Block’s chief financial officer said in September. The company is also expanding the number of states where Cash App users can borrow short-term loans for up to $500.

The launch of Cash App’s Bitcoin map feature points to Block’s commitment to cryptocurrencies. Along with the Bitcoin Map, the company will enable users to convert their U.S. dollars into Bitcoin with a single tap starting this month, according to a separate press release. The company is also allowing users to send and receive stablecoins instantly, that release said.