Bitcoin payments are set to be introduced by Jack Dorsey’s financial services company, Block, Inc., on its payment processing platform, Square, with an initial rollout planned for later this year and a complete launch expected by 2026.
The company announced the plan on May 27 during the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, where Block demonstrated the feature at the BTC Inc. merchandise store.
Merchants will accept Bitcoin payments through existing Square hardware, using the Lightning Network—Bitcoin’s layer-2 scaling solution that enables faster transactions at lower costs.
Dorsey stated on X that merchants will have the option to either retain Bitcoin or have it automatically converted to fiat currency in real time.
The company announced that it expects to commence the rollout in the second half of 2025, aiming to make the service available to all eligible Square sellers by 2026, pending necessary regulatory approvals.
This initiative expands upon Square’s current Bitcoin Conversions feature, which permits merchants to automatically convert their sales into BTC. Consumers can make payments by simply scanning a QR code, while Square manages the underlying technical processes and the Lightning Network facilitates nearly instant settlement.
Miles Suter, Block’s Bitcoin Product Lead, said the initiative aims to promote economic empowerment for merchants by giving them greater flexibility in how they accept payments.
The company announced that starting in May, it will introduce additional privacy and security enhancements to its self-custody BTC wallet, Bitkey, launched in late 2023. These new features aim to improve accessibility to self-custody without relying on traditional seed phrases.
Stake n’ Shake Cuts Payment Fees with Bitcoin Adoption
Meanwhile, Dan Edwards, chief operating officer of the American fast-food chain Stake n’ Shake, stated during a presentation at Bitcoin 2025 that the company reduced its payment processing fees by half through adopting Bitcoin as a payment method.
Edwards noted that their experience with Bitcoin shows it to be faster than credit card transactions, and when customers pay with Bitcoin instead of credit cards, the company saves approximately 50% in processing fees.
Stake n’ Shake announced on May 9 that it will accept Bitcoin as a form of payment at all its restaurant locations worldwide, with the rollout scheduled to begin on May 16.
