Square has reached a significant milestone, with over 1 million U.S. merchants now enabled to accept bitcoin payments, signaling a robust expansion of Block Inc.’s payments network. This new functionality was achieved through an automatic rollout aimed at eligible U.S. sellers, resulting in an impressive activation rate of approximately one new business every eight seconds.
Customers wishing to make purchases in bitcoin can do so via the Lightning Network, while merchants default to receiving payments in U.S. dollars. This design aims to mitigate the price volatility often associated with cryptocurrencies, ensuring a smoother checkout experience for both parties.
Block’s initiative is part of a broader strategy to integrate bitcoin into everyday commerce, moving beyond its use merely for trading or savings. The company initially revealed its plans during the Bitcoin 2025 event in Las Vegas, showcasing how its point-of-sale app would facilitate direct bitcoin acceptance through Square hardware, offering low-cost, nearly instantaneous transactions.
In addition to the ease of transactions, Square is promoting the program with enticing offers such as zero processing fees through 2026, providing near-instant access to funds, and eliminating traditional chargebacks. Merchants are given the flexibility to settle bitcoin payments either in U.S. dollars or bitcoin. Furthermore, eligible merchants can convert up to 50% of their daily eligible sales revenue into bitcoin directly via the Square Dashboard.
This structure allows for a streamlined customer experience while keeping complex operational details hidden within Square’s merchant dashboard. Shoppers can use Lightning-enabled wallets, including Cash App, to make payments, which are recorded in standard Square reporting as dollar-denominated transactions marked as bitcoin payments.
Miles Suter, Bitcoin Product Lead, emphasized that the rollout represents Block’s commitment to making bitcoin more practical for commerce, arguing that for bitcoin to serve effectively as a form of peer-to-peer cash, it “must circulate.”
While this milestone alone doesn’t assure that consumers will start spending significant amounts of bitcoin, it does provide merchants with easier access to this payment option, eliminating the need for each business to establish its own cryptocurrency infrastructure.
In terms of market performance, Block Inc. continues to hold steady, with shares currently trading at $70.49 U.S. per share. Overall, this initiative by Square marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing adoption of bitcoin for everyday transactions, reflecting a shift toward integrating cryptocurrency within established commerce systems rather than through isolated crypto applications.
