Consumer and merchant payment network Square Inc. unveiled a point-of-sale (PoS) terminal October 19 in a move which sparked excitement about possible Bitcoin integration.
Bitcoin PoS Next For Square?
Unveiled on social media and in an interview with tech outlet Nerdist, Square’s device is designed as a standalone solution for merchants wishing to accept card payments. The move comes amid testing times for Square, the company’s share price dropping 25 percent since the start of October following two high-profile resignations.
Shares are currently trading around $0.75 from highs of $1 seen October 1.
In August, Bitcoinist reported on a patent application which would see Square accept cryptocurrency payments via merchant integration. While no official product has yet surfaced, the buzz generated by the application meant Friday’s PoS reveal swiftly resulted in fresh predictions from cryptocurrency commentators.
https://twitter.com/StopAndDecrypt/status/1053247304965079040
An Evolving Market
Square has already-partly integrated Bitcoin (BTC) [coin_price] into its product base. This happened late last year, and it began a rollout of buying and selling functionality in its consumer app which it completed this summer.
That initial step drew positive reactions from users, many of who intimated it was an upgrade they had been waiting for some time.
While Square’s narrative on Bitcoin has been more or less straightforward, it has come amid mixed signals from CEO Jack Dorsey. As CEO of Twitter, Dorsey has presided over the social network instigating a full ban on cryptocurrency advertising, a highly unpopular decision which Facebook and Google also implemented but since partially reversed.
A potential PoS cryptocurrency hook-up could meanwhile appeal to merchants already involved in the acceptance of digital assets.
In May, Bitcoinist reported that crypto merchant payment stalwarts BitPay and Coinbase continue to face stiff competition from open source alternatives amid a string of negative publicity.
In the case of BitPay, slow progress implementing SegWit support, combined with poor reliability, led one developer vowing to make the company “obsolete” with his own solution, BTCPay. CheapAir.com, the travel and accommodation service which began accepting Bitcoin in 2013, has already migrated to the alternative service.
What kind of potential do you think Square’s future holds for Bitcoin merchant payments? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Bitcoinist archives, Shutterstock, Twitter/@StopAndDecrypt.