[Data: Over 1 Million U.S. Merchants Now Accept Bitcoin Payments via Square] According to Bitcoin Magazine, Block team members revealed that the company's subsidiary, Square, has automatically enabled Bitcoin payment functionality for approximately 1 million U.S. merchants. This feature allows customers to pay with Bitcoin via the Lightning Network, while merchants settle in USD, with real-time conversion handled in the system's backend. The functionality has been available by default to eligible U.S. sellers since March 30, with a peak activation rate of one new merchant every 8 seconds. Miles Suter, Block's Bitcoin Product Lead, stated that Bitcoin must circulate rather than remain idle; otherwise, it will lose its transformative value as peer-to-peer cash.