Square, the other company, started by Jack Dorsey, recently announced that it is buying Afterpay, a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) company, for a whopping $29 billion. The BNPL category is hot. Max Levchin’s Affirm has gone public. Klarna, the emerging fintech giant from Sweden, has an offering. And even Apple is getting into the game.
Tech leaders paint BNPL as a boon for those with no credit or bad credit. Truth is not as simple as The Markup points out. The regulators and lawmakers have started paying attention — but will that be enough? Not likely, because every time you visit a store, you get a chance to buy something without paying now!