Compass Espresso, a preferred espresso chain working in 27 places throughout the US’ capital, Washington D.C., grew to become the primary service provider on the earth to simply accept BTC funds via Sq.’s Bitcoin point-of-sale (POS) terminal.

The service supplied beneath Sq.’s new Bitcoin fee integration program was showcased throughout the DC Fintech Week, the place guests have been allowed to pay for his or her espresso in BTC over the Lightning Community. The funds have been processed on a white touchscreen register gadget from Sq. that’s utilized by thousands and thousands of small companies nationwide.

Compass Espresso to Settle for Bitcoin Funds on Lightning Community From November 10

Compass Espresso co-founder and CEO Michael Haft stated they examined Bitcoin Lightning funds from 10 totally different wallets, and “all went via immediately,“ calling it “quick, dependable, and truthfully fairly enjoyable”.

Legendary coffeehouse with 27 places @CompassCoffeeDC is displaying off Sq. Bitcoin Funds at DC Fintech week proper now.

Inform your senator to go give it a attempt! pic.twitter.com/AazPN6ljuB

— Miles 🌞 (@milessuter) October 15, 2025

The beloved D.C. espresso chain demonstrated the function to lawmakers and fintech leaders who attended the summit.

This pilot marked the primary real-world deployment of the Sq. Bitcoin fee system, unveiled by Block Inc., a fintech co-founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. The corporate’s product portfolio contains Sq., a POS system that permits companies to simply accept card and crypto funds, handle stock, payroll, e-commerce, and entry enterprise financing; the favored digital pockets platform Money App; buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service Afterpay; and music streaming service Tidal.

Sq. Bitcoin is a funds platform that provides a set of instruments designed to make Bitcoin usable for on a regular basis enterprise transactions. The service permits retailers and small companies to simply accept BTC funds, robotically convert a portion of their gross sales into BTC, and handle their holdings in a built-in Bitcoin pockets – all of that are accessible from the identical dashboard used for point-of-sale and banking.

Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc. Goals to Make Bitcoin as Seamless as Card Funds for On a regular basis Transactions

Miles Suter, head of Bitcoin product at Block, stated the corporate goals to make Bitcoin funds “as seamless as card funds”, whereas giving small companies entry to monetary administration instruments that have been beforehand solely obtainable to giant companies.

Sq. Bitcoin will probably be rolled out to Sq. retailers beginning November 10, with no processing charges for funds and the conversion of as much as 50% of day by day gross sales income into BTC throughout the first 12 months, simplifying what has lengthy been a fancy course of for companies.

With the corporate integrating Bitcoin immediately into its ecosystem, sellers will not require an exterior pockets or use third-party apps to carry BTC on their steadiness sheets or immediately convert it to U.S. {dollars}. This might decrease the prices and velocity up settlements for retailers, who’re sometimes depending on fee networks reminiscent of Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay, or Apple Pay.

Pranav Agarwal, director at Indian Bitcoin treasury agency JetKing, instructed crypto media outlet Decrypt that utilizing Bitcoin for funds was laid out in Satoshi Nakamoto’s authentic whitepaper and is “intrinsic” to its positioning as a peer-to-peer digital money system. Till the introduction of the Lightning Community, its adoption was marred by sluggish block affirmation occasions, which have since modified as fee methods can now settle for BTC at POS at scale, bringing in a brand new period of Bitcoin adoption.

A typical card fee entails an issuer financial institution, receiver financial institution, and card rails, whereas Bitcoin funds are self-custodial, with only a single enabler platform like Sq.. He famous that this facility might unlock new worth for BTC via loyalty applications, cashbacks, or decrease costs, as sellers not have to soak up excessive interchange charges.

Bitcoin is Changing into a Sturdy Various to Conventional Fee Rails within the US

Bitcoin funds are gaining recognition throughout the US. In Might, the favored Illinois-based quick meals chain Steak ‘n Shake started accepting BTC in any respect places nationwide, utilizing the Lightning Community by way of QR codes on kiosks and POS terminals. The transfer boosted gross sales by roughly 11% in Q2 2025, helped minimize the corporate’s processing prices in half, and drove day by day buyer visits.

Regardless of a breakthrough in establishing Bitcoin as a robust different to conventional fee rails, regulatory hurdles stay. Jack Dorsey has referred to as for exempting federal tax on small bitcoin funds, urging lawmakers to revive a reconciliation invoice by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) that didn’t advance in July.

On the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is buying and selling at $111,595 – down 0.3% in 24 hours.