Is Bitcoin’s ‘TCP/IP Moment’ Here? Square Pushes BTC Into Everyday Payments At Scale

• Block's Square has started accepting Bitcoin payments from qualified U.S. retailers, letting buyers pay in BTC.
• David Marcus, CEO of Lightspark, described the action as a possible "TCP/IP moment," implying that Bitcoin may become a fundamental layer for international money transfers.
• Square and Jack Dorsey have confirmed the deployment, a step toward integrating Bitcoin into everyday real-world transactions.

Block Inc’s (XYZ) Square on Monday enabled Bitcoin (BTC) payments for eligible U.S. merchants with automatic conversion to cash at checkout.

The development drew attention from industry leaders, with Lightspark CEO and former PayPal (PYPL) President David Marcus describing it as a potential “TCP/IP moment” for money. Marcus said on X that enabling Bitcoin payments at scale could mirror how TCP/IP became the foundational protocol of the internet.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is the system that allows computers to communicate with each other across networks. It standardized how data is transmitted over the internet, enabling the growth of global digital communication. Marcus suggested Bitcoin could play a similar role for financial transactions by creating a common standard for how value moves between users and systems.

XYZ Stock Gains

Square’s Bitcoin product lead, Miles Suter, said that “eligible U.S. Square sellers will begin having Bitcoin payments automatically enabled.” Merchants who accept Bitcoin will receive dollars by default, allowing customers to pay using Bitcoin.

Block’s stock was trading up by over 3% during midday trading. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around XYZ moved from ‘bearish’ to ‘neutral’ as chatter levels around it improved from ‘extremely low’ to ‘low’ over the past day. 

Block co-founder Jack Dorsey also shared the update, confirming that the rollout will begin on Monday. The development followed Square’s “Bitcoin is everyday money” initiative, launched in November last year, which called for policy changes, such as de minimis tax exemptions, to support small transactions. This meant that users would not have to calculate and report capital gains on every small Bitcoin payment, making it easier to use for everyday purchases.

Read also: ABTC Accumulates Bitcoin While Strategy Pauses Its 13-Week Buying Run

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