Square, Block’s merchant payments platform, has announced new features for merchants, including AI-powered voice orders for restaurants, AI assistant enhancements such as providing local information, and an integrated Bitcoin solution to accept and retain digital currencies.
The company is now using AI to handle incoming calls at restaurants and cafes that use Square. This is especially useful for Cloud Kitchen (delivery-only restaurants) and other delivery-centric facilities, as it allows you to hand over order acceptance, customization, and other menu-related questions to AI. Bots can respond to requests such as “What is the menu today?” Or “Make the food spicy, but not dairy.”
Other companies like Yelp and Kea are also building voice AI solutions for restaurants. Square said the company’s solutions stand out because it integrates with its payment and kiosk ecosystem, making it easier to manage orders for restaurants.
Square also adds Grubhub integration to streamline third-party delivery orders, a kiosk interface redesigned to provide easy access to frequently used menus, and an AI-powered inventory management tool that helps restaurants manage and optimize supplies.
The POS company is also adding new features to Square AI Assistant, which was released in an open beta earlier this year. Bots can now provide local information such as weather, nearby events, industry trends, and more.
While assistants can already create visualizations based on seller data and queries, Square can now save them as auto-update widgets in your dashboard.
Additionally, Square will provide new features such as Square AI access to conversation history and a dashboard for mobile apps for merchants.
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Bitcoin integration
Block co-founder Jack Dorsey’s affinity for Bitcoin is well known. Square began last year allowing merchants to exchange a portion of their daily revenue for Bitcoin. The company is currently implementing integrated Bitcoin solutions for sellers, including wallets.
To promote the introduction of Bitcoin, the company will allow companies to accept digital currency directly from POS machines with no processing fees for a year. The company plans to begin collecting a 1% fee in 2027.
The company is also introducing an integrated Square Bitcoin wallet with the ability to buy, sell, retain and withdraw cryptocurrency directly from the dashboard.
Last year, Square allowed retailers to exchange 1% to 10% of their daily revenue for Bitcoin. With Square Bitcoin, sellers can choose to convert up to 50% of their daily revenue. The company says users have accumulated 142 Bitcoins since the program’s launch, which amounts to more than $17 million at the time of writing.
“The Bitcoin tools we build at Square meet two important needs: ensuring sellers don’t miss out on sales and provide access to powerful financial tools that help them manage and expand their finances more easily,” said Miles Suter, head of Bitcoin Products at Block.
“We make Bitcoin payments as seamless as card payments, while providing small and medium-sized businesses with access to financial management tools previously only offered to large companies. Through Square and the Cash App, we serve both sides of the counter. This means Square is not just a saving of value, but is in a unique position to make daily money with Bitcoin. At the same time, we also support sellers with a high-profile business operation,” he added.
Though hundreds of online sellers have accepted Bitcoin as a payment method, the majority of Bitcoin transactions are still associated with speculative trading. According to an eMarketer study, the number of US users using cryptocurrency as a payment method would skyrocket to 7.1 million in 2026. Although Block was bullish on Bitcoin, it aims to capitalize on the rise in currency adoption with new merchant services.
