URL > IRL: How Coinbase, Blackbird, & Square Are Bringing Merchant Payments Onchain
November 19, 2025
Read Time
9 min
Imagine walking through your local farmers market and buying your weekly produce without having to fumble through your wallet for cash or use Venmo. Instead, you scan a QR code at Weiser Family Farms for $10 of honeypatch squash and turnips that launches an app asking whether you want to fund the purchase with your Bitcoin (BTC) or Cash (USD) balance. You select cash, as you hold no Bitcoin, and then the transaction completes instantly with Weiser paying no merchant fees. As of last week, that transaction is fully supported through Block’s own consumer-facing Cash App and Square merchant-facing products that now support BTC payments through the high-speed, decentralized Lightning Network. This week, HNGRY sits down with F&B blockchain expert Derek G Taylor who is testing multiple blockchain payment systems at his newly-opened noun coffee + wine in Marina Del Rey, CA to get a firsthand look at the future of ultrafast, low-cost peer-to-merchant payments.
Subscribe to continue reading
Sign up now for HNGRY Trends to read weekly stories like this and join the community of hundreds of food tech industry insiders from CloudKitchens, Uber, DoorDash, GoPuff, and more.
Already a member? Log in


