CoinDesk
GoMining on Friday released a software development kit and application programming interfaces for GoBTC Pay, its bitcoin-native payments protocol that lets merchants accept BTC for everyday purchases. The system settles directly on the Bitcoin network via GoMining's Stratum V2 mining protocol, with an average settlement time of around 12 hours and a 0.2% transaction fee split 50-50 between wallet providers and miners.
The deliberate break with incumbents is that the merchant receives bitcoin, not fiat, by default. Block, the fintech co-founded by Jack Dorsey, has been rolling out its own BTC payments service over the past year via the Bitcoin Lightning network — but Square converts the payment into U.S. dollars unless the merchant opts into holding BTC. GoMining's CEO Mark Zalan framed the design choice in terms of preserving the asset's properties: "Our idea isn't to squeeze bitcoin into the old fiat experience and lose what makes it bitcoin along the way." GoMining plans to onboard an initial cohort of 10 merchants as part of the rollout.
Why it matters
The structural bet is that a non-trivial slice of merchants will prefer to retain BTC on the receiving side rather than auto-convert to dollars, and that the friction costs cited by Zalan — high and variable fees, slow and unpredictable settlement — can be addressed on the base layer rather than via Lightning. By routing settlement through its own mining infrastructure under Stratum V2, GoMining is effectively trying to internalize parts of the fee economy that Lightning-routed competitors leave to intermediaries.
Market impact
The competitive pressure lands squarely on Block's bitcoin payments rollout, which has spent the last year converting merchants onto Lightning with fiat settlement as the default. A non-custodial, onchain-finality alternative that costs 0.2% per transaction puts pricing and treasury treatment on the table as a differentiator. Adoption at scale remains the open question: GoMining is starting with a 10-merchant pilot, while Square is already broadly distributed, so the near-term impact is more about framing the merchant-choice conversation than shifting volume.
Frequently asked questions
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What is GoBTC Pay and how does it differ from Square's bitcoin payments?
GoBTC Pay is GoMining's bitcoin payments protocol, released with an SDK and APIs on Friday. Unlike Block/Square's Lightning-based service, which converts BTC into U.S. dollars by default, GoBTC Pay delivers bitcoin directly to the merchant unless they choose to convert themselves.
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How fast does GoBTC Pay settle transactions and what does it cost?
GoMining says GoBTC Pay settles directly on the Bitcoin network via its Stratum V2 mining protocol, with an average settlement time of around 12 hours. Merchants pay a 0.2% transaction fee, split 50-50 between wallet providers and miners.
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How is GoMining's payment system different from Bitcoin's Lightning Network?
Lightning routes payments off-chain through payment channels for near-instant settlement, while GoBTC Pay settles directly on the Bitcoin base layer via GoMining's own mining infrastructure. The trade-off is longer confirmation in exchange for onchain finality and non-custodial settlement.
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Why does GoMining's CEO say the design choice matters?
CEO Mark Zalan argued the goal is to preserve what makes bitcoin distinctive rather than replicate the fiat experience: "not to squeeze bitcoin into the old fiat experience and lose what makes it bitcoin along the way." That is why merchants receive BTC by default and handle fiat conversion themselves if they want it.
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What is the scale of GoMining's merchant rollout so far?
GoMining said it plans to recruit an initial cohort of 10 merchants as part of the GoBTC Pay rollout, putting it well behind Block's broadly distributed Square payments footprint. The near-term contest is more about framing the merchant-choice conversation than shifting volume.
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