Mezu Is Venmo for People Who Don't Want to Share Their Personal Info
*By Madison Alworth*
Both Mezu and Venmo are transaction-based finance apps ー but the co-founder of Mezu insists his new platform is quite different.
The primary difference? Privacy.
"\[We're\] giving you the ability to exchange money with people that you know, but also to exchange money without having to actually share your contact information, which is the major issue with Venmo right now," Mezu CEO and co-founder Yuval Brisker said Friday in an interview on Cheddar.
The Cleveland-based operation envisions a world in which cash is less accepted and less convenient, and credit cards and digital payments reign supreme.
While Venmo users can send money to anyone on the app, Brisker pointed out that it's not necessarily safe or appropriate to Venmo your bartender a tip.
"We developed an app that lets two people who know each other, but also two people who don't know each other... exchange money without having to share their contact details, protecting their privacy first," Brisker said.
Each time money is exchanged on Mezu, a one-time encrypted code is created for the transaction. Money on the app lives in an account protected by partner MainStreet Bank, an FDIC-insured company based in Virginia. And in an age of heightened data security concerns, Mezu said that all transaction information on the app remains encrypted.
Brisker said that Mezu operates more like cash ー untraceable and secure ー whereas Venmo is more akin to writing personal checks from your bank account.
"The irony with Venmo is that, in the most private transaction, most people are broadcasting it out to the world," Brisker said. "I think that that's kinda ending as we see that there's been a lot of violation of people's privacy in those terms."
Mezu, which was founded in 2017, recently raised a $10 million Series A round and is available on Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/mezu-no-cash-no-problem).
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
