Bitcoin Lighting Gets Major Adoption Boost in US

Starting Monday, Square began automatically enabling Bitcoin payments for millions of eligible U.S. small businesses, according to a recent announcement.

It is leveraging the Bitcoin Lightning Network and defaulting all merchant settlements to U.S. dollars.

Notably, Square is rolling out Bitcoin acceptance with zero additional setup required from the merchants.

Miles Suter, Block’s head of Bitcoin product, confirmed the deployment on X, noting that sellers who accept the cryptocurrency will receive fiat currency by default. “We’re making it easier for millions of businesses to accept bitcoin,” Suter stated. “This is how bitcoin as everyday money begins.”

It is also worth noting that Square is waiving all processing fees on these transactions through the end of 2026.

The sheer scale of the rollout is quite notable. It is targeting an eligible pool of roughly 4 million U.S. merchants that comprise 78% of Square's user base.

More Lightning adoption

Square’s infrastructure bypasses the base Bitcoin blockchain in favor of the Lightning Network.

The Lightning Network operates as a "Layer 2" protocol built directly on top of the base chain.

The main Bitcoin blockchain is only engaged when a payment channel is eventually closed. At that point, the network records the final net balance.

By routing payments through Lightning, Square delivers a checkout experience that mirrors the speed of legacy credit card rails while operating on an open, decentralized monetary network.

David Marcus, CEO of Lightspark and former President of PayPal, described the integration as a potential “TCP/IP moment” for global financial infrastructure.