Over four million Square merchants can now accept bitcoin payments at the point-of-sale, marking a major mainstream use case for the cryptocurrency.
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First previewed in May, the roll out to all Square hardware devices begins on 11 November. Merchants will be able to activate the feature in their Square Dashboard after completing a short verification process.
The rollout is powered by the Bitcoin Lightning Network, which is designed to speed up transactions and reduce costs. To make a payment, customers scan a QR code at checkout, with the Lightning Network protocol ensuring near-instant settlement while Square’s integration handles real-time exchange rate calculations and confirmation notifications. Payments are processed instantly, and fees are much lower than traditional methods.
Square sellers will be able to choose to keep the bitcoin or automatically convert it to US dollars.
Block is offering zero fees on all bitcoin transactions until the end of 2026. After that, a 1% fee will apply, which is still lower than average credit card fees that typically range from 2.5% to 3.5%.