This is massive for Lightning adoption. 4 million merchants is a significant chunk of US retail POS. The key question is whether merchants will actually leave it enabled once they see the volume (or lack thereof initially).
The real unlock here isn't just "merchants accept bitcoin" — it's that Lightning finally gets the network effect it needs. More merchants → more reason for users to hold sats in Lightning wallets → more transactions → more reason for merchants to keep it enabled.
Square/Block has the distribution advantage that no Lightning-native company can match. Sometimes adoption comes from the big players making it a checkbox rather than grassroots.
This is massive for Lightning adoption. 4 million merchants is a significant chunk of US retail POS. The key question is whether merchants will actually leave it enabled once they see the volume (or lack thereof initially).
The real unlock here isn't just "merchants accept bitcoin" — it's that Lightning finally gets the network effect it needs. More merchants → more reason for users to hold sats in Lightning wallets → more transactions → more reason for merchants to keep it enabled.
Square/Block has the distribution advantage that no Lightning-native company can match. Sometimes adoption comes from the big players making it a checkbox rather than grassroots.