Jack Dorsey'southward cryptocurrency-friendly digital payments firm Square is expanding competition with global payments giants similar PayPal by acquiring a major Australian lending company.

Square announced Sunday that the house has entered into a scheme implementation deed to acquire all of the issued shares in fintech company Afterpay in a $29-billion deal. The transaction is based on the closing price of the Foursquare mutual share and is expected to be paid in all stock in the first quarter of 2022.

The acquisition enables Square to further accelerate its strategic plans for payment ecosystems every bit the company is looking to integrate Afterpay into its Seller and Cash App concern units to enable a "buy at present, pay afterward" (BNPL) service.

Also referred to equally installment loans, BNPL transactions permit customers to pay a beak in small portions throughout a stock-still menstruation of fourth dimension and are actively pioneered by global financial firms such equally PayPal, Mastercard, Klarna, Citi and others.

According to the announcement, the integration will enable pocket-sized businesses to offer BNPL at checkout, assuasive Afterpay consumers to manage their installment payments directly in Greenbacks App and to discover that BNPL offers directly within the app. The integration marks a new milestone for Square in meeting the growing consumer need for shifting away from traditional credit.

Square co-founder and CEO Dorsey said that the conquering will help the companies to deliver on their shared mission to make the financial arrangement more accessible, fair and inclusive. "Together, we can amend connect our Cash App and Seller ecosystems to deliver even more compelling products and services for merchants and consumers, putting the power back in their hands," he noted.

Related: DeFi on Bitcoin: Jack Dorsey says Square'southward new division will make it happen

As function of the transaction, Afterpay's co-founders and senior executives will bring together Foursquare and help lead Afterpay'southward related merchant and consumer businesses within Foursquare'southward Seller and Cash App ecosystems. Square has likewise agreed to found a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to permit Afterpay shareholders to trade Foursquare shares via CHESS depositary interests on the ASX.

The news comes amongst Foursquare announcing notable 2nd-quarter earnings, reporting 200% growth in Bitcoin (BTC) revenue. Square's Bitcoin services generated $55 million in gross profit, increasing 223% year-on-twelvemonth, while Cash App generated a gross profit of $546 million, surging 94%.