Square granted patent for fiat-to-crypto payments network

Granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office, the patent details a payments system allowing users holding different asset types to transact with one another in real-time. Many cryptocurrencies are too volatile and too slow to become an effective payments solution.

However, Square aims to remove these ‘barriers’ with a system that features automatic exchange and real-time settlements. Consumers can pay in their preferred asset, using a privacy coin to keep their identities secret, for instance, and merchants receive the full value in an asset they want to hold.

The patent suggests the system could be extended to add support for other asset classes including securities, derivatives or loans. Square integrated Bitcoin in 2018 and the founder Jack Dorsey has said multiple times he believes BTC could become the ‘native currency’ for the internet, according to CoinDesk.