Dear Toast Team,
As a forward-thinking company at the forefront of restaurant management technology, integrating Bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network would be a strategic move that aligns with the evolving financial landscape. Bitcoin, as a decentralized digital currency, offers a secure, global, and cost-effective payment solution that can attract tech-savvy customers and differentiate Toast from competitors. The Lightning Network, a second-layer protocol on top of Bitcoin, facilitates instant and low-cost transactions. By integrating this technology, Toast can offer smaller transaction fees, as low as fractions of a cent per payment, compared to the 2-3% of Visa, increasing profit margins and reducing overhead costs. Block, Inc.'s Square and Cash App, which allows customers to pay with Bitcoin, has already demonstrated the success of this approach by providing a seamless and user-friendly payment experience.
This integration also opens up opportunities for international customers to make payments without the need for currency exchange, further broadening your customer base. Block's Square also offers dollar-cost averaging into Bitcoin and automatic Bitcoin investing through their business finance options from a percentage of your restaurant's revenue. By following this example, Toast can provide restaurants with a valuable tool for hedging against inflation via money printing, ensuring financial stability and growth through the coming financial instability of the US dollar. The successful integration of Bitcoin payments by Block's Square POS through Cash App further underscores the feasibility and benefits of such an implementation.
I would like to quickly note that Bitcoin is the only real and applicable crypto asset, evidenced by its mechanisms like proof of work and the flooding institutional adoption of BTC ETFs, pension funds, nation-states, and banks.
Does Toast have any plans to expand it's payment avenues to support the Bitcoin Lightning network to remain competitive with Square?
Best regards,
Cole, Elliott Bay Brewing Co.
