Dive Brief:

• PayPal Tuesday announced it is partnering with three bitcoin payment processors — BitPay, Coinbase, and GoCoin — so its merchants can accept the crypto-currency. 

• The move stops short of eBay-owned PayPal accepting bitcoin directly, and for now is offered only in the United States and Canada.

• Meanwhile, mobile and credit-card payments company Square is developing a point-of-sale register that will allow brick-and-mortar stores to accept bitcoin and Apple Pay, according to Square CEO Jack Dorsey. 

Dive Insight:

Certainly one of the keys for any payment system to take off is to have the hardware and platforms that accept those payments. With PayPal and Square both making it easier for retailers to accept bitcoin, the virtual currency could possibly enter the mainstream. Square is staying in the game by ensuring that its systems (and the merchants that buy them) are capable of taking any form of payment from consumers.