Bitcoin payments go mainstream as Square auto-enables BTC for small businesses

Jack Dorsey’s Square on Monday announced it began automatically enabling bitcoin payments for millions of eligible U.S. small businesses, marking one of the most aggressive pushes yet to integrate crypto into mainstream commerce.

The Block (XYZ) subsidiary said businesses can now accept bitcoin with no additional setup requirements and with transactions instantly converted into U.S. dollars at checkout. The feature includes near-instant settlement and zero processing fees through 2026, it added.

“Automatically enabled bitcoin payments are rolling out to eligible U.S. Square sellers,” the company wrote on its X post.

“Start accepting bitcoin that instantly converts to cash at checkout, with no additional setup.” The roll-out builds on Square’s broader “Square Bitcoin” initiative announced recently, but signals a significant change, as bitcoin acceptance is now being integrated directly into existing payment systems instead of needing merchants to activate it.

Merchants who accept bitcoin for the goods and services they are selling will receive U.S. dollars by default, removing exposure to price volatility and eliminating the need for custody or accounting changes, the company has said in previous statements.

Miles Suter, Block’s head of bitcoin product, on X said, “we’re making it easier for millions of businesses to accept bitcoin. This is how bitcoin as everyday money begins.” CEO Dorsey confirmed the roll-out with a succinct “today” comment on X.

The move comes as PayPal recently rolled out its U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, PYUSD, to tens of thousands of its users in 70 markets worldwide, as part of its strategy to push deeper into digital payments, while Square’s BTC payments roll-out is a major milestone for the cryptocurrency industry. Dorsey, a bitcoin purist, has repeatedly expressed his aversion to stablecoins, though he recently said his company would support these USD-pegged tokens due to increasing customer demand.

Square’s user-base are currently 78% from U.S. and 22% from international markets, according to its recent investor presentation.

Bitcoin for the masses

In a separate X post, Suter said “bitcoin as everyday money is a long term journey” for Block and the world, adding that “many moves to make and many pieces to get in place for this to all come together the right way, and sustainably.”

Square’s bitcoin payment approach is part of a growing trend to abstract from crypto complexity by handling conversions in the background, out of users’ visibility. By defaulting settlement to fiat, Square lowers the barrier for small businesses that have historically rejected crypto.

The announcement drew attention from industry figures, including Lightspark CEO and former PayPal President David Marcus, who described the rollout as a potential “TCP/IP moment” for money.

Marcus compared the move to the early standardization of internet protocols, arguing that bitcoin could become a foundational layer for transferring value across systems.

“Enabling Bitcoin payments at scale could mirror how TCP/IP became the foundational protocol of the internet,” he said.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) underpins how data moves across the internet, allowing disparate networks to communicate through a shared standard. Marcus suggested 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. Rather than targeting crypto-native users, the company is integrating bitcoin payment tools systems already used by millions of small businesses for payments, inventory and payroll.

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