REGISTER NOW Square's $29 billion deal to acquire the installment lender Afterpay provides new muscle — and a powerful buy now/pay later product — not only to Square's sellers, but to its popular consumer-direct business as well. While there are many lenders in the global BNPL market, Square's biggest rival in this space is PayPal, which has benefited heavily from its merchant reach and brand recognition. Square is best known to merchants, but has had a lot of success adding consumer-facing services to its Cash App, which contributes The Melbourne, Australia-based Afterpay is one of the few firms to control more than 10% of the U.S. buy now/pay later market. At Square, Afterpay will be the key driver in offering cross-border omnichannel BNPL that can serve both Square's consumer-facing and merchant services businesses.