By Breeauna Sagdal

In a growing digital world where apps misleadingly called “CashApp” actually send digital payments and track every tap, and where PayPal threatens users with $2,500 fines over ambiguously defined “misinformation,” WhoTakesCash.com (tagline “Make Cash Cool Again”) offers an opportunity to push back—celebrating businesses that actually take cash.

Launched in 2025, after a favorite dinner spot told Solari subscriber Saga Stevin and a friend that it would no longer accept cash, this free platform offers an interactive map and directory that helps users locate businesses that do proudly accept physical cash.

“A close friend and I were heading to our favorite restaurant for dinner,” Stevin shares. “However, when we arrived they had all these new signs up announcing they were now contactless and cashless. I asked if I’d be allowed to pay with cash and was promptly told no.” They immediately left, refusing to give the restaurant their business, but the experience left Stevin wanting some type of directory that would quickly help her find the businesses she wants to support—businesses that take cash.

Soon after that experience, Stevin contacted her tech-savvy brother, Mike Brasovan, and pitched an idea for a new app—an actual cash app.

Brasovan agreed to help with the app project, and added the WhoTakesCash website as an educational tool. For business owners, listings are free and add instant marketing value. “Stand out as a business that values privacy,” the homepage urges.

The core feature of WhoTakesCash.com is the online app-like map, where pins mark cash-friendly shops, cafes, and services near you. Search by city or zoom in; each listing highlights venues that skip card fees and tracking.

However, the map is not all—the platform also doubles as an advocacy hub. Videos and articles warn about central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and other forms of programmable money that could let governments monitor or block spending.

Around the world, the cash movement is starting to have a big impact, and the network of privacy-conscious merchants is growing. The WhoTakesCash app is doing its part to build that network by making it easy for Solari subscribers and other app users to submit new cash-friendly spots in seconds.

“While at an airport recently, I was given a cash discount,” Stevin marvels. “WhoTakesCash is really starting to make a big difference in where people choose to spend their money.”

Early app users include independent grocers, mechanics, ranchers, and farmers’ markets tired of Big Tech’s cut, but the platform is expanding quickly. Long-term, Stevin says the goal is to have every city filled in, so that users everywhere can know who takes cash and—perhaps equally importantly—who does not.

More broadly, the aim is to push for and achieve change using the power of transparency and market choice, rather than invite more sweeping government interventions and mandates. This is where the Solari audience can get involved and really help to move the effort forward—by voting with those hard-earned dollars.

WhoTakesCash requests some basic information to create a username, but Stevin clarifies that none of the information is ever sold or shared. The project has been fully funded by the two siblings, who aren’t opposed to cash donations, but honestly just wanted a detailed directory guiding consumers to businesses that take cash.

Why cash? The site spells it out:

• Privacy: “No one can track your purchases.”
• Freedom: “Keep control of your money, not the banks or government.”
• Savings: Businesses dodge 2%–4% card fees, often passing discounts to customers.
• Reliability: Cash can still be used when the power goes out or natural disasters arise.

“Cash is Freedom,” declares the WhoTakesCash website. “Join the movement to keep cash alive.”