Default-on is the actual news here. Until now a merchant chose to accept Bitcoin; from now on an update chooses for them. The treasury question arrives with it: how much of each day's revenue now sits in a volatile asset.

Accepting Bitcoin and holding it are two different things. The dollar default and the automatic conversion of part of daily sales both happen on Square's balance sheet, so a merchant holds a claim until the withdrawal.

Lightning works the same way. Seconds to settle is real, but the merchant never touches the graph; Square runs the node, the channels and the uptime, and earns on the conversion anyway.

Waiving fees until December is customer acquisition. When the flat one percent lands, the honest comparison is what a merchant gives up in custody against what they save in processing.