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Square Cash lets you send money over email, now open to US residents

That Square Cash service that was unveiled as invite-only about five months ago? Well, it's officially open to the public. As of now, anyone can send cold hard cash to anyone else just with a regular ol' email address -- well, an address in the US, anyway. To send money, simply send an email to the recipient with "cash@square.com" in the CC field and the dollar amount in the subject line. If you and your recipient are new to the service, you'll both get an email from Square with a link to a secure website where you can enter in your debit card number. After that, those funds will be transferred in one to two business days. Once your debit card account is set up, any subsequent cash transaction will go through automatically. The service is absolutely free to send and receive, though you're limited to sending only $2,500 a week.

Though you only need email to send and receive cash, the folks at Square are also releasing a Cash app for Android and iOS that essentially acts as a shortcut to the service. Once you enter in the dollar amount in the app, it kicks you over to email to complete the process. Brian Grassadonia, Director of Products at Square, told us that Square Cash solves the problem that has historically plagued the status quo when it comes to peer-to-peer payments. "You no longer need to remember to log in to an account to send or receive money," he said, giving examples of friends dealing with a bar bill or parents sending money to their kids in college. "This is so easy and lightweight that any time there's an opportunity to send money, you don't have to think twice -- you just do it." The service is only available for US residents for now, though the company has said it's open to exploring opportunities in other countries in the future. So sorry, moochers, now there's no excuse for you not to pay your pals back ever again.

Square Cash lets you send money over email, now open to US residents