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Square came to Canada in 2012 but only offered support for major credit cards, something the company said it wasn’t happy with because consumers here tend to use debit cards more than credit.

Debit payments

A recent report by Payment Canada found that 24.8 per cent of payments in 2016 were done through debit card, up from 20.4 per cent in 2011. In comparison, credit card use was lower at 21.8 per cent in 2015.

Canada is “very different from around the world because of debit,” Dorsey said.

To drum up enthusiasm for the device, new and existing Square sellers won’t have any transaction fees for debit purchases made through the rest of 2017 on the new accessory.

Originally founded in 2009 by Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, Square’s pitch is that it will act as the middleman between small businesses and financial institutions. So far it seems to be working, as the company continues to grow substantially each year.

The company processed more than US$50 billion in transactions last year, up 39 per cent from 2015. In its most recent earnings, Square saw a 26 per cent jump in quarterly revenue and payment volume up 33 per cent to US$16.4 billion.

“I don’t actually care what the banks and (credit card companies) are doing because I just deal with Square,” said Ian Baird, owner of the Ontario-based lavender farm Terre Bleu. “We actually went to the banks at the beginning and the process was going to be to get a Moneris system to set up and then not get any information other than do a transaction for me… So the idea that I can just deal with Square (is great).”