 pay cash keeps on saying “ACTIVATING your card is being activated”

Have you tried a forced restart of your iPhone? Please review the information in the Apple Support article I linked below. If you’re not familiar with the process follow the instructions in the article. A forced restart is more than turning your iPhone off and on.

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

If the forced restart doesn’t resolve the issue, please contact an Apple Cash Specialist. Apple Cash is a service that’s administered by Green Dot Bank. Contact an Apple Cash Specialist at Green Dot Bank by calling (877)-233-8552 or by calling 1-800-MY-APPLE

https://applecash.greendot.com/termsconditions/

Even just having the profile and software installed can cause issues with card verification and banking/financial apps that all have to connect to secure servers.

VPN software will need to be deleted and any profiles installed, deleted. Once everything is removed your Network Settings need to be reset.

Reset your network settings

If you're using iOS or iPadOS 15 or later, tap Settings > General > Transfer or Reset [Device] > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

If you're using iOS or iPadOS 14 or earlier, tap Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

This also resets Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, and VPN and APN settings that you've used before.

Your next step will be to head over to Apple Support. They may feel the issue is the card already activated on your Apple Watch and want to remove the card from your Watch. I hesitate to do that because there’s no guarantee it’ll go back on your Watch.

Call Apple Support at 1-800-My-Apple and request technical support about your Apple Cash issue. Please alert them that Green Dot couldn’t help and also our conversation here in Apple Support Communities and the troubleshooting steps we’ve done.

Please follow this path,

iPhone > Settings > General > scroll down > VPN & Device Management > VPN > delete any profiles found. If a profile is found, Network Settings need to be reset again.

If no profile is found, or you just deleted the profile and reset network settings, do another forced restart.

Are you using a VPN? Have you ever had VPN software on your iPhone?