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cryptocurrency August 14, 2018

Square’s mobile payment app is totally down with bitcoin. Here’s a brief timeline of how it got there.

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According to a recent tweet from the team behind Cash App, the mobile payment app developed by financial services company Square Inc., users can now buy and sell bitcoin across the US, from Alabama to Wyoming and every state in between.

The crew began testing bitcoin support back in November 2017 among select users. A Square spokesperson indicated that this move was informed by customer demand:

“We’re always listening to our customers, and we’ve found that they are interested in using the Cash App to buy bitcoin. We’re exploring how Square can make this experience faster and easier, and have rolled out this feature to a small number of Cash App customers.”

Afterward, on January 31, 2018, bitcoin support was made available to the general user pool in most states, accompanied by an Adventure Time-style illustrated story titled “My First Bitcoin and the Legend of Satoshi Nakamoto.” Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square, tweeted that he and his company ultimately support the cryptocurrency because they “see it as a long-term path towards greater financial access for all.”

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Until relatively recently, though, four states – Georgia, Hawaii, New York, and Wyoming – did not have access to the app’s bitcoin service. The Cowboy State was the first of these to rope its way onto Cash App in March, around the time the state’s legislature passed a roundup of blockchain- and cryptocurrency-friendly bills.

In June, Square received a BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services, enabling the company to expand bitcoin support to the Empire State. Besides Square, only a few businesses hold a BitLicense.

Although the bitcoin service is also available in both Georgia and Hawaii, neither the Cash App team nor Square has explained the move to these states. It remains unclear why customers in the Peach State did not originally have access to the service.

However, the Aloha State specifically implemented a policy last year requiring crypto-related companies to maintain liquid cash reserves equal to Hawaiian customers’ cryptocurrency holdings. This policy caused digital currency exchange Coinbase to discontinue service in the state. (A comparable policy in Wyoming led the same exchange to exit that state, too, though it later returned.)

ETHNews reached out to the Square team for comment regarding the app’s bitcoin service expansion into these two states but did not receive a response by press time. Additionally, Cash App’s FAQ page still notes that bitcoin support is not available in Georgia, Hawaii, or Wyoming.

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Daniel Putney is a full-time writer for ETHNews. He received his bachelor’s degree in English writing from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he also studied journalism and queer theory. In his free time, he writes poetry, plays the piano, and fangirls over fictional characters. He lives with his partner, three dogs, and two cats in the middle of nowhere, Nevada.

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Source: ETHNews