Square Goes Full Crypto: Live Bitcoin Payments Hit Mainstage at Flagship Event

Jack Dorsey’s fintech disruptor just dropped the mic—Square processed real-time Bitcoin payments during a live demo, proving crypto commerce isn’t just for dark web nostalgics.

No more ’coming soon’ vaporware—this was spendable sats in the wild, with transaction speeds that left credit card processors sweating. The move signals Square’s doubling down on its Bitcoin maximalist stance while traditional banks still debate whether blockchain is a spreadsheet or a yoga pose.

Of course, Wall Street analysts will still call it a ’volatility risk’—right before approving another leveraged ETF for their hedge fund buddies.

Square starts live Bitcoin payments at a live event

Square launched its new real-time Bitcoin payment system that was set up inside BTC Inc.’s pop-up merchandise truck during the Bitcoin 2025 conference at The Venetian in Las Vegas. 

The system is faster, cheaper, and more scalable than regular on-chain payments because it uses the Lightning Network, a special technology that processes transactions off the main blockchain.

Users don’t need to understand how crypto works to make a payment as they’ll scan a QR code at checkout and let Square handle the real-time conversion rates, payment confirmation, and converting bitcoin into US dollars.

Block’s Bitcoin product team lead, Miles Suter, joined in 2017 and is now helping connect Bitcoin across multiple Block products. This includes Spiral, Cash App, Bitkey, and Square, after years of experience building crypto tools.

The Las Vegas event was a live test to see how real-time BTC payments could work in retail. Block plans to make the feature globally available by 2026 with regulatory approval from the target areas. 

Block builds full toolkit to help small businesses use Bitcoin

Block wants to make Bitcoin the native currency of the internet and is building a complete set of tools to help small and medium-sized businesses accept, manage, and benefit from using Bitcoin in everyday operations.

The company has doubled down on Bitcoin as its Core bet on the future of money, while other fintech firms invest in stablecoins and tokenized dollars.

Over 1,000 sellers have adopted the company’s Bitcoin Conversion tool, automatically changing a portion of their daily sales into BTC. The company claims that the merchants’ Bitcoin holdings grew by around 70% over the past year.

Block’s new real-time Bitcoin checkout feature also allows merchants to receive payment in BTC and instantly convert it to US dollars without any price volatility or risk.

Block is also building its “Bitcoin for Business” toolkit to help small businesses accept payments in BTC through a standard transaction or a quick QR code scan and instantly convert between US dollars and Bitcoin.

Sellers who want to hold their Bitcoin can withdraw it to Block’s secure self-custody wallet, Bitkey, without using third-party exchange platforms. 

Block’s Bitcoin ecosystem connects Cash App for trading, Bitkey for wallet and custody, Spiral for open-source development, and Proto for mining infrastructure to build a full-stack Bitcoin platform that works for both consumers and merchants.

Bitcoin prices are at an all-time high, while many companies still treat it as a store of value. Block believes they can increase Bitcoin adoption rates by showing real utility. 

Block also hopes to level the playing field and push Bitcoin into the mainstream economy, one sale at a time, by giving small businesses the same tools that big companies use.

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