Square secures patent for a new ‘cryptocurrency payment network’

Jack Dorsey’s Square continues to make waves in the cryptocurrency industry.

Earlier this week, the payments giant secured yet another crypto-related patent—this time, one that specifically registers a system for converting payments made in fiat to “non-fiat instruments.” The news was first reported earlier today by industry publication CoinDesk.

Square’s patent application puts it like this: “A method includes receiving a request for payment associated with a transaction between a first user and second user, where the request specifies a payment amount in a fiat currency and identifying an indication that the first user intends to satisfy the request for payment using a non-fiat instrument.”

In other words, users on this proposed “Cryptocurrency payment network” (as the application calls it) may pay with fiat, while recipients can choose to receive their funds in digital currency. The exchange of currencies occurs directly through the network itself, and the…