Square secures patent for crypto payment network

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Payments firm Square has been awarded a patent for a new payments system designed to allow merchants to collect payment in any currency, including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin BCH, CCN first reported.

The patent was disclosed in documentation released by the U.S. Patents and Trademark Office, which approved the patent for a payment systems that allows consumers to pay in cryptocurrency or any fiat currency, and for merchants to receive payment in their own preferred currency from the range available.

First filed in September 2017, the patent describes a system “capable of accepting a greater diversity” of currencies and payment options, noting, “The disclosed technology addresses the need in the art for a payment service capable of accepting a greater diversity of currencies…including virtual currencies including cryptocurrencies (bitcoin, ether, etc.)…than a traditional payment system in a transaction between a customer and a merchant, and specifically for a payment service to solve or ameliorate problems germane to transactions with such currencies.”

The payment service, according to the patent, is capable of facilitating “real-time (or substantially real-time) transactions, allowing a customer to pay in any currency of their choice, while the merchant can receive payment in a currency of their choice.”

In rolling out the system, Square will follow in the footsteps of rival BitPay, which has been offering a similar service to merchants since 2011. However, given the profile and market penetration of Square, their patent is likely to open the door to millions of merchants globally doing business in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

It is not known how, when or even if Square intends to put the patent into practice. Bank of America has been awarded multiple blockchain patents, many of which still remain dormant. But the news will be seen as another step towards mass adoption of cryptocurrencies for payments, as originally envisaged.

It follows comments from Square and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey back in May, when he was reported to have described Bitcoin as a potential native currency of the Internet.

“The internet deserves a native currency. It will have a native currency. I don’t know if it will be Bitcoin or not. I hope it will be Bitcoin,” Dorsey said at the time.

Note: Tokens on the Bitcoin Core (segwit) Chain are Referred to as BTC coins. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is today the only Bitcoin implementation that follows Satoshi Nakamoto’s original whitepaper for Peer to Peer Electronic Cash. Bitcoin BCH is the only major public blockchain that maintains the original vision for Bitcoin as fast, frictionless, electronic cash.