The Prufrock column in today’s Sunday Times reports that Charles Cohen, the founder of beenz.com, the former “Internet currency”, together with Vincent Tchenguiz, are soon to launch a new currency called Cashish.
According to the Cashish website, a customer will be able to purchase Cashish using one of the following methods:
· paying cash in shops, petrol stations and mobile top-up terminals
· via credit / debit cards
· transferring cash from Paypal and other online payment services
· charging deposits to mobile phone bill / pre-pay account
The site claims some of the best mobile content, gaming, adult and gambling services will accept Cashish. Cashish enables anonymous payments, which is the only advantage I can see over other payment methods such as credit cards, online payment services (e.g. Paypal) and charging to mobile accounts.
Interestingly, Paypal recently announced its intention to start processing micropayments, designed for purchases under $2.
So will Cashish thrive where Beenz failed? With Beenz, I never understood the need for another currency in order to facilitate transactions on the Internet. Likewise, I'm not sure it's necessary for mobile transactions, although the anonymous nature of transactions is likely to make it more compelling. But rest assured the mobile operators won't take any threat lying down.
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