Jack Dorsey’s Square announced Monday that it began automatically enabling bitcoin payments for millions of eligible U.S. small businesses, marking one of the most aggressive efforts yet to integrate cryptocurrencies into mainstream commerce.
Subsidiary Block (XYZ) said businesses can now accept bitcoin with no additional setup requirements and with transactions instantly converted to US dollars at checkout. The feature includes near-instant settlement and zero processing fees until 2026, it added.
“Automatically enabled bitcoin payments are rolling out to eligible US Square sellers,” the company wrote in its X post.
“Start accepting bitcoins that instantly convert to cash at checkout, with no additional setup.” The launch builds on Square’s recently announced broader “Square Bitcoin” initiative, but signals a significant shift as bitcoin acceptance is now being integrated directly into existing payment systems rather than requiring merchants to activate it.
Merchants who accept bitcoin for the goods and services they sell will receive US dollars by default, eliminating exposure to price volatility and eliminating the need for escrow or accounting changes, the company said in previous statements.
Miles Suter, head of bitcoin products at Block, said on CEO Dorsey confirmed the launch with a brief “today” comment about X.
The move comes as PayPal recently launched its US dollar-backed stablecoin, PYUSD, to tens of thousands of its users in 70 markets around the world, as part of its strategy to delve deeper into digital payments, while Square’s launch of BTC payments is a major milestone for the cryptocurrency industry. Dorsey, a bitcoin purist, has repeatedly expressed his aversion to stablecoins, although he recently said his company would support these dollar-pegged tokens due to growing customer demand.
Square’s user base is currently made up of 78% from the US and 22% from international markets, according to its recent investor presentation.
Bitcoin for the masses
In a separate
Square’s bitcoin payment approach is part of a growing trend to abstract away from the complexity of cryptocurrencies by handling conversions in the background, out of users’ visibility. By making settlement fiat, Square lowers the barrier for small businesses that have historically shunned cryptocurrencies.
The announcement caught the attention of industry figures, including Lightspark CEO and former PayPal president David Marcus, who described the launch as a potential money-making “TCP/IP moment.”
Marcus compared the move to the early standardization of Internet protocols, arguing that bitcoin could become a fundamental layer for transferring value between systems.
“Enabling Bitcoin payments at scale could mirror how TCP/IP became the fundamental Internet protocol,” he said.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) underpins how data moves across the Internet, allowing disparate networks to communicate over a shared standard. Marcus suggested that bitcoin could play a similar role in financial infrastructure by creating a common framework for moving value between users and platforms.
Square’s integration could significantly expand Bitcoin’s real-world payment footprint. Instead of targeting crypto-native users, the company is integrating bitcoin payment tool systems already used by millions of small businesses for payments, inventory, and payroll.
Read more: Stablecoin payments become ‘invisible’ in Southeast Asia as crypto card business surges
