Square Goes Full Bitcoin: Millions of Merchants Get Zero-Fee BTC Payments

The feature, announced Wednesday, allows Square’s 4 million-plus US sellers to accept Bitcoin (BTC) at checkout and optionally convert part of their revenue into the asset. Merchants can hold their BTC in a dedicated wallet within Square’s existing dashboard, which also supports buying, selling, and withdrawals.

In a rare show of generosity in fintech, Square is waiving transaction fees until the end of 2026. After that, a modest 1 % fee kicks in on January 1, 2027. That gives merchants more than two years to experiment with Bitcoin payments essentially for free — a smart way to grease the wheels of adoption.

The service is currently limited to US sellers (sorry, New York — you’re excluded thanks to the state’s famously heavy-handed BitLicense regime) and isn’t yet available internationally. But if this pilot works, global expansion feels inevitable.

With Bitcoin at new all time highs, it seems like the right move.

Dorsey’s Bitcoin Vision Comes Into Focus

Square’s embrace of Bitcoin isn’t exactly shocking. Jack Dorsey has been one of Bitcoin’s most high-profile advocates in Silicon Valley, frequently stating that Bitcoin will become the “native currency of the internet.” Under his leadership, Block Inc. (Square’s parent company) has already woven BTC into its products through Cash App, giving users the ability to buy, sell, and spend Bitcoin easily.

Dorsey has also backed Bitcoin infrastructure initiatives, including an open-source mining system aimed at making Bitcoin mining cheaper and more decentralized — a direct challenge to the dominance of industrial-scale miners. And Block itself currently holds 8,692 BTC on its balance sheet, making it the 13th-largest public holder globally. This isn’t a flirtation with crypto; it’s a long-term bet.

Crypto Payments Are Back in Vogue

The timing is telling. After years in the wilderness, crypto payments are back on the regulatory and cultural agenda in the United States. A friendlier policy environment and a maturing market are reigniting interest in using crypto for actual transactions, not just speculation.

Square cited eMarketer data showing US crypto payment usage is projected to grow 82 % between 2024 and 2026. Consumer sentiment is shifting too: a YouGov survey found that users in the US and UK increasingly view payments as one of crypto’s most compelling use cases.

And then there’s AI. The rapid rise of AI agents with built-in financial capabilities is accelerating the trend. Google’s new Agent Payments Protocol aims to enable autonomous agents to send and receive crypto payments — especially stablecoins — as part of routine operations. In short: the robots are coming, and they’ll be paying in crypto.

A Payment Arms Race

Square’s move lands in a competitive landscape. PayPal has been steadily expanding its peer-to-peer crypto tools, now supporting Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), and its dollar-pegged stablecoin PYUSD. Other fintech players, from Stripe to Shopify plug-ins, are quietly racing to figure out how to blend traditional payments with digital assets.

The zero-fee BTC integration isn’t just a feature — it’s a Trojan horse. By normalizing Bitcoin at checkout, Square could rapidly onboard millions of merchants into the crypto economy. For Bitcoin, long criticized for being “digital gold” rather than a currency, this is a concrete step toward proving its usefulness as a medium of exchange.

If this works, Square’s Bitcoin rollout could mark a subtle but significant pivot: from crypto as an investment class to crypto as infrastructure. Dorsey has always seen Bitcoin as more than a speculative asset. By leveraging Square’s massive merchant base and sweetening the deal with zero fees, he’s making a credible attempt to push Bitcoin into everyday commerce.