Mark this day on your calendar. @Square officially launching bitcoin payments to all its merchants is a historic moment in time. I don't work for Square, nor have any affiliation with (or interest in) Square or Block, Inc., but I believe it is a watershed event and I'm going to explain why.

Bitcoin is inherently difficult to understand. It is difficult to understand largely because money itself, as a concept and medium, is esoteric. Those who have found the signal through the noise and adopted bitcoin as money at this early stage of its evolution have had to see past the volatility, have had to ignore experts calling them crazy and have had to be the first adopters of a form of money that isn't often used day to day to facilitate transactions (as money typically is).

99%--or practically speaking 100%--of people who have adopted bitcoin as money to this point have typically done so by going down a rabbit hole...reading books, listening to podcasts or watching videos online. Bitcoin adoption to this point has largely been driven by primary education, paired with a combination of vision (or recognition) for why the world will adopt bitcoin and real-world, lived experience connecting bitcoin in some way to the problems of printing money and inflation.

However, while 99% of bitcoin adoption to this point has necessarily been a function of a primary education rabbit hole (books, etc.), realistically 99% of people in the end will come to understand bitcoin as money when they see it used as money. No amount of financialization, fiat arbitrage or reading books will break down the barrier of "but it's not used as money" standing in the way of mass bitcoin adoption. It is no slight to say that the vast majority of everyone on earth will need to see bitcoin working day to day as money to understand it as just that: money.

As an end game, bitcoin payments are also necessary to bitcoin working as a system. Today, bitcoin is largely run on fiat exchange, but the fiat system is far more fragile than most (even bitcoiners) would like to admit. And in order for bitcoin to work as a closed loop value transfer system, it must be possible to access the real economy directly with bitcoin, without the need to rely on the legacy fiat system as an exchange intermediary.

Said another way, as an end state, if it were not technically possible or practically achievable to purchase real goods and services directly with bitcoin and instead, if you always needed to convert bitcoin to fiat to then buy your goods and services, bitcoin would almost definitionally be too centralized as a system to credibly remain censorship resistant or to credibly enforce the rules of the system that make it viable as a currency system (notably its fixed supply).

Bitcoin both needs day-to-day payments to functionally work as a currency system and to educate the masses on bitcoin. That is an objective reality. The fiat system is hyper-centralized. If bitcoin were to always run on fiat exchange, it too would be hyper-centralized: too centralized to be viable long-term. And 99% of people will come to understand bitcoin when they see it being used as money...when they see that you can pay for food, gas, electricity, healthcare, etc. with bitcoin. That is when it will begin to click for most people. It will close the money mental loop that is otherwise left staring into the abyss, with the lingering "to what end" question of buying bitcoin with fiat.

And that is only part of why @Square's launch of bitcoin payments, with its reach (4 million businesses), is such a watershed moment for bitcoin. Square's launch is just a beginning, but it is bigger than Square. First and foremost, Square's launch will directly benefit the merchants who activate bitcoin payments, it will benefit consumers who value those merchants, and it will benefit Square, creating a discernible differentiator and competitive advantage relative to peers. But beyond the direct interests, it improves bitcoin as money by bridging bitcoin to the real economy, by diversifying bitcoin liquidity from exchanges to merchants, and importantly by setting a precedent and sending signal. Square's launch sends a loud signal to the market, collectively to:

• Individuals who have not yet adopted bitcoin that will now see it in a different light or from a different perspective as money.
• Direct competitors of Square, particularly other terminal operators, who will increasingly get pressure to match capabilities (or lose).
• Businesses outside of Square's ecosystem or customer set who are influenced to evaluate and demand bitcoin payments solutions.
• Investors that will fund capital investment in bitcoin payments infrastructure, no longer able to say "it's too early."

Square is just one company (again, to which I have no affiliation) but this individual move will be looked back on as one of the most important lines of demarcation in bitcoin's history. If less than 1% of the world has figured out why bitcoin is the future of money (and not just as a speculative store of value asset), the subset of business owners in that 1% must be given an opportunity to lead us into the future. That is what every business owner who has already adopted bitcoin payments has done, and it will be what every business owner who goes next will do. But business owners need functional tools, that seamlessly fit into their operations and workflows, in order to opt in at scale.

"Too early for bitcoin payments" is a fine, imaginary line that is removed when a sufficient number of bitcoiners and business owners decide to reject the status quo. In large part, that is what Square has done. It has rejected the status quo, and it is giving business owners an opportunity to lead and to control their own destinies, in a way not possible without bitcoin: to lead by way of example and to protect their own interests at the same time by leaning into sound money.

And to that end, I want to share spotlights on two local businesses in Austin, Texas, each that i) I value personally, ii) are owned by individuals minded to adopt bitcoin and iii) are Square merchants now accepting bitcoin as payment at point of sale alongside traditional fiat.

Small business owners are natural leaders and that has nothing to do with bitcoin. Starting and running a business is hard. That is not a secret. There are approximately 33 million businesses in the US and while so much focus is placed on the stock market, there are less than 4,000 public companies in total in the US. The vast majority of businesses in America are small businesses. Small businesses still power America, despite the centralizing wealth effects of the fiat system. Bitcoin will make small businesses stronger and Square supports 4 million businesses, the vast majority of which are small to medium sized businesses.

Local Pastures + Shirttail Creek Spotlight

Local Pastures is a local grocer in Austin owned and operated by local farmers (not Big Ag). It is a partnership between the owners of Shirttail Creek Farm and Belle Vie Farm. I originally met one of the owners (Sam Moffett of Shirttail) when he came through the Bitcoin Commons to record with @martybent on the @tftc21 podcast, which was several years after I started buying his eggs at the downtown farmers' market in Austin.

Shirttail and Belle Vie needed a better way to access consumers directly (more consistently/reliably than the farmers' market) and decided a vertically integrated local grocer was a critical part of the puzzle. At Local Pastures, you can get everything from steak, ground beef, bacon, ground pork, local sourdough, Texan "greek" yogurt, kefir, eggs, milk, raw milk (must order ahead online) and more. I shop at Local Pastures weekly. I love and rely on a lot of their staples but I have to say the Shirttail Creek eggs are hands down the best eggs you will ever eat. Now, in Austin, you can get your food direct from the rancher, seven days a week at a local grocer and pay in bitcoin, powered by Square. There are two locations: one on Oltorf and one on North Lamar. Shirttail Creek will also be accepting bitcoin at the farmers' market.

If you're in Austin, go out of your way to support Local Pastures and to support your local farmers. And if anyone says, "but you can't buy food with bitcoin," tell them that you can in Austin and/or that you do.

This is Sam from Shirttail / Local Pastures. He's helping to decentralize our food supply in Central Texas, a modern day Renaissance man. As @modernTman would say, "Go Shake Your Rancher's Hand."

Medici Roasting Spotlight

That day has now come, only a little over a year later (the world changes fast). Medici was quick to express interest after Square announced plans to launch bitcoin payments at the Bitcoin Conference in Vegas this past May. I'm a coffee drinker. And before I ever met Michael Vaclav (one of the owners), I knew the Medici brand and the quality of its coffee from growing up in Austin. While one of the locations used to be on Congress (just down the street from the Commons), I now go out of my way. Bitcoiners support other bitcoiners, but the quality of the coffee makes it worth it.

And for all of those people who say "but you can't buy coffee with bitcoin", you can now in Austin, thanks to Medici and thanks to Square. Now we just need a local bookstore to accept bitcoin and Neel Kashkari will be fully satisfied that bitcoin is in fact money!

A Call to Action For Bitcoiners

"Has anyone in this room ever bought something with bitcoin? Not bought bitcoin. Bought something using bitcoin as a currency [...] a sandwich, a computer, a book? I've never met someone who's bought something using bitcoin as a currency" - @neelkashkari (2024), President Minneapolis Fed

There is an infinite amount of cash at the Federal Reserve. Accept Neel Kashkari's bitcoin payments challenge. Help lead the way into the future. Square has opened a massive door. It's incumbent upon bitcoiners to walk through it. And no, that does not even mean you have to spend your bitcoin. Support businesses that accept bitcoin. A few years back another one of our local ranchers (Cole Bolton of @kandccattle) told a crowd at the Bitcoin Commons, "10% of our sales are in bitcoin but 35% of our sales are to bitcoiners." Do the math, you can support businesses that accept bitcoin with your fiat too! That said, I do encourage you to think long term and leverage the tools that exist. That is critical to value being realized and more tools being built. If not you, then who? If you value a service offered by a business and that business owner wants to be paid in bitcoin, pay them in bitcoin.

A few specific things I would suggest bitcoiners do to support Square's launch of bitcoin payments:

• In Austin? Go by Medici Coffee and Local Pastures and ask to pay in bitcoin, support the immediate launch.
• Check out the list of Square Merchants (and other merchants) accepting bitcoin as payment via Cash App's bitcoin acceptance map (if it's not live, it's being Ninja launched today h/t @milessuter), and go support these merchants.
• If you know a Square business owner, mention this launch to them, ask them to enable the bitcoin payments feature and rally your local community to support the businesses that do (with bitcoin & fiat)!
• Share the news with anyone that has ever told you "but you can't buy anything with bitcoin."
• Fifth and final, to quote Sam Moffett, "Fly Mordecai!"

Gradually, Then Suddenly. Square has launched bitcoin payments. Congrats to the entire team at Square and the broader Block, Inc. umbrella on the heavy lift and the launch. To making everyday a bitcoin pizza day.