Square’s Online Marketplace Now Takes Bitcoin Payments

Square has announced that its online marketplace, Square Market, will now allow its merchants to accept bitcoin as a payment method.

Square Market enables small businesses, artisans, and generally boutique proprietors to sell their wares online. For every sale, Square takes a 2.75% fee.

The payments processor, which has built its brand on the trademark payment card dongle, was on track to process more than $15 billion in 2013. Square was also mulling over an IPO in 2014, but it has since been postponed.

How does it work? A customer that wants to pay with bitcoin will choose that option at checkout, and then scan a QR code with their smartphone’s bitcoin wallet to complete the transaction.

Online merchants who enable bitcoin payments don’t need to change a thing, since the payment will be automatically exchanged for the local currency.

Square has partnered with bitcoin payment processor Coinbase to provide this pain-free checkout experience.

Bitcoin and digital currencies on the whole have taken a hit with the insolvency of Mt. Gox, a rumored upcoming banning by China’s central bank, and likely what is the most pressing issue, the IRS ruling that bitcoin should be treated as property.

The ruling may hinder usage of bitcoin as a currency in the U.S. since capital gains (and losses) with bitcoin now need to be reported.

However, the fact that a market leader like Square is willing to dip into bitcoin is a sign of how far it’s come, and a positive step towards its potential adoption as a global currency.