Square's Venmo rival is testing a feature that lets users buy and sell bitcoin

Mike Blake/Reuters

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey.

• The payment company Square is rolling out a new feature that lets users of its Cash app buy and sell bitcoin.
• Unlike some competitors, Cash doesn't yet let users pay or accept payment in bitcoin.
• The move allows Square to enter the bitcoin business; the cryptocurrency has seen its value and popularity soar lately.
  

Some users of Cash, the Venmo rival from Square, can now buy and sell bitcoin inside the app. 

Square began rolling out the feature last week. It's still not widely available, but some users who have access to the new feature posted screenshots to Twitter. Those pictures show "buy" and "sell" buttons and a graph of bitcoin's fluctuating value over time.

Forbes first reported the new feature.

Square added the feature because users asked for it, the company said in a statement. The company is still trying to figure out how to make it "faster and easier" and is only offering it to a "small number" of Cash users, it said.

"We believe cryptocurrency can greatly impact the ability of individuals to participate in the global financial system, and we're excited to learn more here," the company said in the statement.

Cash is designed to allow individual consumers to send each other payments, such as when they split a check at restaurant. However, the new bitcoin feature in Cash doesn't yet allow users to pay others or accept payments in the cryptocurrency. Consumers can do that with other payment apps, such as Narwhallet.

Still, the move allows Square to enter the bitcoin business. The cryptocurrency has soared recently in value and popularity. The new feature will allow Square to compete with cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase and Gemini.

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