On October 8 2025 Block and its Square payments platform announced two new tools that target small business pain points: AI voice ordering for small business and integrated Bitcoin payments for merchants. The Bitcoin option comes with a promotional 0 percent processing fee for one year to encourage merchant Bitcoin adoption and experimentation with a new payment channel.

Background

Restaurants and quick service retailers face ongoing friction in order taking and checkout. Square is positioning voice commerce and crypto rails as practical ways to reduce labor and speed checkout. The voice solution connects to existing point of sale systems so spoken requests become structured orders. The Bitcoin offering lets businesses accept Bitcoin payments with simplified onboarding so merchants can accept Bitcoin payments with Square without extra crypto plumbing.

Explaining the terms in plain language

• AI voice ordering for small business: software that converts speech to text then interprets intent to create an order inside the merchant point of sale. This saves manual entry and makes voice commerce integration easier.
• Integrated Bitcoin payments: a payment flow that allows customers to pay with Bitcoin and records or settles the transaction in Square. The promotion removes processing fees for one year to lower the cost of trying Bitcoin payments for merchants.

Key findings and details

• Launch date: October 8 2025.
• Promotional pricing: 0 percent processing fee on Bitcoin for merchants during the first year.
• Target use cases: food service counters and other high volume order environments where AI powered POS systems and voice enabled checkout can reduce friction.
• Benefits emphasized: automation of order taking; potential labor savings; a contactless checkout option and another route to accept Bitcoin payments for merchants.

Implications for merchants

Operational benefits include time savings per order and the ability to free staff for tasks with higher value. For high volume locations small per order gains compound into meaningful capacity improvements. The new tools also expand payment choice and enable merchant Bitcoin adoption without initial processing cost.

Business considerations to watch

• Post promotional fees: the 0 percent rate lasts one year. Model longer term economics before relying on Bitcoin as a core payment method.
• Compliance and reporting: accepting Bitcoin introduces tax and regulatory reporting obligations. Merchants should confirm how Square handles settlement currency and reporting to reduce volatility exposure.
• Accuracy and setup: voice solutions need tuning for accents noisy environments and complex menus. Expect a setup period to reach reliable accuracy.

Strategic context

Embedding AI into customer facing workflows and experimenting with crypto rails are two clear fintech trends in 2025. Square voice commerce and the integrated Bitcoin option fit a broader push by payments platforms to build more capabilities into the merchant ecosystem so businesses can adopt contactless checkout solutions and AI powered POS systems without building integrations from scratch.

Conclusion

Square gives merchants two practical levers: try voice commerce to automate order taking and accept Bitcoin payments for merchants with a fee free promotional window. Both offer upside in faster service and broader payment choice but require planning for compliance accuracy and the end of the promotional period. Merchants that test these tools now can learn how to integrate AI voice ordering and crypto payment solutions into daily operations and measure whether the tools deliver sustained savings and improved customer experience.