Square, Block’s merchant payments platform, has launched new features for merchants, including AI-powered voice ordering for restaurants, enhancements to its AI assistants – such as providing local information – and an integrated bitcoin solution for accepting and maintaining digital currency.
The company now enables restaurants and cafes using square lever AI to handle incoming calls. This is especially useful for cloud kitchens (delivery-only restaurants) and other delivery-focused establishments because they can hand over order-taking, customization, and other menu-related matters to AI. The bot can handle requests like: “What’s the special on your menu today?” Or “make my food spicy, but don’t use any dairy.”
Other companies, like Yelp and KEA, are building AI voice solutions for restaurants. Square said its solution stands out because it is integrated with its payments and kiosk ecosystem, making it easier to manage orders.
Square is also adding Grubhub integration to streamline third-party delivery orders, a redesigned kiosk interface for easier access to frequently used menus, and an AI-powered inventory management tool to help restaurants manage and optimize supplies.
The point-of-sale company is also adding new features to its Square AI assistant, which launched earlier this year in open beta. The bot can now provide local information, such as weather, nearby events, and industry trends.
Although the assistant can already create visualizations for merchants based on their data and queries, Square now allows them to save them as automatically updated widgets on their dashboards.
Additionally, Square is bringing new features like access to conversation history with Square AI and a dashboard to its mobile app for merchants.
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Bitcoin integration
Block co-founder Jack Dorsey’s affinity for Bitcoin is well known. Square began allowing merchants to convert a portion of their daily earnings into Bitcoin last year. The company is now introducing an integrated Bitcoin solution for sellers, including a wallet.
To encourage bitcoin adoption, the company will allow businesses to accept the digital currency directly from their point-of-sale machines without processing fees for one year. In 2027, the company will start charging a 1% processing fee.
The company also introduces an integrated square Bitcoin wallet with the ability to buy, sell, hold and withdraw the cryptocurrency directly from the dashboard.
Last year, Square allowed retailers to convert 1% to -10% of their daily profits into Bitcoin. With the introduction of Square Bitcoin, merchants can choose to convert up to 50% of their daily earnings. The company noted that since the program began, users have accumulated 142 Bitcoins, worth more than $17 million at the time of writing.
“The Bitcoin tools we build at Square address two critical needs: ensuring sellers never miss a sale and giving them access to powerful financial tools that help them more easily manage and grow their finances,” Miles Suter, head of Bitcoin product at Block, said in a statement.
“We’re making bitcoin payments as seamless as card payments while giving small businesses access to financial management tools that, until now, have been exclusive to larger corporations. “Through the Square and Cash app, we serve both sides of the counter, meaning Square is uniquely positioned to make Bitcoin everyday money, not just a store of value – all while helping upcoming sellers,” he added.
While hundreds of online merchants accept bitcoin as a payment method, a large portion of bitcoin transactions are still tied to speculative trading. A survey by Emarketer suggests that the number of US users who use cryptocurrency as a form of payment will increase to 7.1 million in 2026. Block, which has been bullish on Bitcoin, aims to capitalize on the increased adoption of the currencies with the new merchant offerings.
