In brief
- Square has automatically enabled Bitcoin payments as the default setting for eligible U.S. sellers.
- The shift affects 4 million merchants who can now accept Bitcoin with zero fees.
- Sellers receive USD by default through background conversion, though they can opt out or adjust settings.
Block's Square payments platform has begun automatically enabling Bitcoin payments for eligible U.S. sellers, shifting from an opt-in to an opt-out model in a move that could significantly expand mainstream Bitcoin payment adoption.
The change, which co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey—an outspoken Bitcoin maximalist—confirmed began rolling out on Monday, affects an estimated 4 million merchants.
"Starting today, eligible U.S. Square sellers will begin having Bitcoin payments automatically enabled. Sellers who accept Bitcoin will receive USD as default," said Miles Suter, Block’s Bitcoin product lead. He added that the ability will roll out to all sellers in the coming month.
Under the new system, merchants who accept Bitcoin payments will receive USD as their default settlement currency, with the conversion handled automatically in the background. The feature comes with zero fees for accepting Bitcoin payments.
Merchants retain control over the feature and can opt out or adjust settings if they prefer not to accept Bitcoin payments. The automatic enablement represents a strategic shift in how payment processors approach cryptocurrency integration, moving from requiring merchants to actively choose Bitcoin acceptance to making it a default option.
Block first launched the Bitcoin payments feature for all sellers last November, after testing and then gradually rolling out the functionality. Previously, Square users would have to optionally enable the feature, ahead of the shift announced Monday.
Dorsey has led Block towards a number of Bitcoin initiatives beyond Square payments terminals, including buying and selling BTC in Cash App, launching a Bitcoin hardware wallet, and developing a modular Bitcoin mining system. Despite Dorsey’s own personal Bitcoin fandom, Cash App is enabling stablecoin support—though he’s grumbled about the move.
Block recently laid off over 4,000 people—representing about 40% of its staff—in a move to maximize efficiency and further embrace AI tools. Block’s stock (XYZ) is up more than 1% on the day to $56.76, as of this writing, down about 11% over the last month.