Most Square merchants are happy to accept bitcoin, survey says
About 60 percent of the retailers surveyed say they'd be willing to take the digital currency instead of dollars.
There are still many hurdles to bitcoin becoming a regular currency.
Maybe bitcoin will become a regularly used currency after all.
In a new survey of roughly 100 US retailers that use Square's checkout hardware, 60 percent said they would take bitcoin instead of cash, according to financial tech firm Instinet. The findings were "surprising, especially amid bitcoin's elevated volatility," Instinet analyst Dan Dolev said in his report.
Square's stock has been on an upswing this year as the payments company has started to embrace bitcoin. The company in January said it would let nearly all its Cash app users buy and sell bitcoin, with CEO Jack Dorsey tweeting at the time that "we see it as a long-term path towards greater financial access for all."
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for now aren't used much for buying goods and services, with most enthusiasts more interested in holding onto their digital coins in the hopes they'll rise in value. Also, high transaction fees, high volatility and minimal adoption by merchants has slowed bitcoin's adoption as a regular currency.
The latest survey won't help clear all those hurdles, but it could be a start.
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