First Look: Square Processing $10 Billion in Payments Annually

Jack Dorsey has a subtle way of reminding everyone he's on top. Over the social media platform he co-founded, his mobile payments startup Square Tweeted this:

Tech blog Mashable first noticed and commented on the Tweet: 

"A year ago, Square was processing $2 billion in payments per year. It took five more months to hit the $5 billion per year milestone.

"To have doubled its annualized transactions in just seven months is a testament to the success of Dorsey's platform, based on a dongle you plug into your smartphone or tablet and lets anyone swipe a credit card to pay you."

After all, it's Square's idea that has created an entire mobile commerce industry. Bank of America (BAC), eBay's ecommerce arm PayPal and terminal maker VeriFone (PAY) have all rushed to bring their own card readers to market.

Still Square has continued to grow throughout the onslaught. Most recently, Starbucks (SBUX) turned on Square payments at its brick-and-mortar stores after the coffee chain invested $25 million in the company in August. The question is: Will Square be able to withstand all this competition?

BTN's First Look gives readers an insight into what our reporters are reading and paying close attention to.

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