Jack Dorsey’s Block Brings Bitcoin Lightning and Stablecoins to Cash App

The update, announced by Cash App's parent company Block, positions the service as a more flexible payments tool, offering users additional ways of sending value beyond traditional peer-to-peer transactions.

According to the company, customers will be able to utilize these features without having to actively hold bitcoin or manage digital wallets. Cash App calls the expansion part of its effort to make digital payments more approachable, letting people tap into new payment rails without requiring technical expertise or exposing them to market volatility. This helps bridge the gap between everyday finance and the emerging forms of digital money, it says, while still keeping the experience familiar for users who prefer to transact in dollars.

Among the most notable updates is that of Lightning-enabled Bitcoin payments. According to Cash App, those eligible will be able to scan a receiving party's Lightning Network invoice or QR code and complete a payment with their Cash App dollar balance. The recipient-for instance, a merchant-will receive bitcoin through the Lightning Network, whereas the sender pays in U.S. dollars. In this manner, users can access Bitcoin-powered payments without holding cryptocurrency themselves-something that the company highlights as a simplification.

The news release also mentions that Cash App users will be granted access to a new “Bitcoin Map,” a tool inside of the app to help people locate merchants nearby who accept bitcoin. The feature is designed to give users a greater sense of where digital payments are in use in real locations, rather than limiting functionality to online transactions. According to Cash App, the map will assist users in navigating to local businesses-including those using Square's merchant services-that are prepared to take on Lightning-based payments.

In addition to the latest Lightning functionality, Cash App is also integrating support for stablecoins, allowing customers to send and receive digital-dollar equivalents through wallet addresses. According to the company, incoming stablecoin transfers will automatically convert to U.S. dollars in the customer's Cash App balance, while outgoing transfers can be initiated simply by inputting a compatible wallet address. Cash App touts this as a faster means of moving value, particularly across wallets, while promising to keep the process simple and accessible to mainstream users.

Cash App's bitcoin product lead, Miles Suter, said the new features reflect the original vision for Bitcoin to serve as fast, borderless digital money. He described Bitcoin as "open, fast, and borderless money that works for everyone," while characterising stablecoins as a complementary option for everyday transfers. In the statement, he said stablecoins represent an improvement over legacy payment systems and provide another pathway for users who want predictable dollar-based value while still using modern digital payment channels.

General trends in digital-asset adoption have increasingly focused on ease of use, simplified access, and reducing the need for customers to directly manage cryptocurrency holdings. In line with these themes, Cash App's announcement offers tools intended to remove the common friction points of custody, conversion, and wallet management by allowing users to operate comfortably in U.S. dollars while benefitting from faster, modern payment rails. The company sets this within a long-term aim of integrating the functionality of digital assets into day-to-day financial behaviors.

The update also represents a larger industry trend of integrating fiat-based interfaces with cryptocurrency infrastructure. While consumers often think in terms of stable units of account-a dollar, say-such pago-merchants and services can meanwhile switch to faster, programmable networks. The automated-conversion approach taken by Cash App follows broader market efforts toward invisibilizing the underlying technology for the user, so that funds flow more seamlessly among asset types.

Cash App says the new features will roll out gradually and will only be available to eligible customers. It also indicates that availability may vary by location, adding that the features will not be made available to residents of New York or any users outside the United States. That is a pretty common approach in the financial-services industry, particularly when new payment capabilities depend upon licensing, compliance rules, or technical infrastructure that must be supported region by region.

Cash App claims this can enable a potential benefit to merchants by way of settlement through instant, Lightning-powered bitcoin payments. While specific economics or merchant incentives are not part of the announcement, the greater payments industry has been increasingly looking to digital-asset-based rails as one means to shorten settlement windows and potentially reduce intermediary requirements. Cash App's mentioning Square-connected businesses suggests the integration touches both sides of Block's ecosystem: consumer wallets and merchant infrastructure.

For users, the messaging is one of increased flexibility. People who already use Cash App for peer-to-peer transfers may find stablecoin functionality appealing for situations where they want to send digital dollars quickly to another wallet without relying on traditional banking timelines. Meanwhile, paying a Lightning invoice without touching bitcoin itself can make Bitcoin payments feel familiar, more like a standard tap-and-pay or QR-code-based experience.

Although the announcement is focused on new features rather than market projections, Cash App signals that these tools are part of a long-term strategy to support new forms of money and provide an integrated environment where digital payments, crypto-powered rails, and dollar-denominated balances coexist. Such positioning reflects a broader narrative in digital finance: platforms want to stay competitive by expanding their payment capabilities, keeping user experience simple and regulatory-friendly.

The addition of Bitcoin Map, Lightning payments, and stablecoin transfers to Cash App extends its functionality as one of the most-used mobile payment platforms in the U.S. While the company does not provide adoption forecasts in the announcement, the updates indicate that Cash App perceives increasing value in merging fiat-based user interfaces with crypto-based networks, particularly as both infrastructure and consumer expectations continue to evolve.

The company's announcement signals a push toward making digital-asset payments feel as easy as traditional ones, even for users who want to transact entirely in dollars. Cash App's feature focus seems to double down on abstraction of complexity but with access to faster networks, positioning digital assets to function as part of everyday money movement versus separate, unfamiliar tools.