Venmo and Cash App basically commoditize bank accounts. Banks don't like that. And since Zelle is run by the banks, they get to put their own branding all over

Venmo and Cash App basically commoditize bank accounts. Banks don't like that. And since Zelle is run by the banks, they get to put their own branding all over it, make it available as the official supported way to send money from their mobile apps, and create a third network thereby reducing the network effects of the first two. Also, Zelle is more popular than Cash App and about on par with Venmo so it clearly wasn't too late to catch up.