• Written by: Harpreet Kaur
  • Wed, 09 Feb 2022
  •   India

Bengaluru, February 9, 2022: Apple has revealed plans to introduce Tap to Pay on the iPhone, a major update that basically transforms the smartphone into a point-of-sale device for companies as well as merchants. So, what does this mean for cryptocurrency? According to the statement, owing to near-field communication technology, or NFC, iPhone-owning merchants may […]

Apple’s next iPhone feature will offer merchants a way to accept Crypto Payments

Bengaluru, February 9, 2022: Apple has revealed plans to introduce Tap to Pay on the iPhone, a major update that basically transforms the smartphone into a point-of-sale device for companies as well as merchants. So, what does this mean for cryptocurrency?

According to the statement, owing to near-field communication technology, or NFC, iPhone-owning merchants may accept contactless payments through using their mobile phones as a point-of-sale system.

Apple’s soon-to-be-released Tap to Pay function would support “Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, as well as other digital wallets,” as per the company. Customers who have a Coinbase Card, Crypto.com Visa Card, or a comparable payments card will indeed be allowed to use their cryptocurrency holdings to make the payments using Tap to Pay unless Apple puts a direct obstacle in the way.

Although Apple has listed Stripe, an Irish-American fintech, as the very first platform to promote the iPhone’s Tap to Pay functionality, the firm has also stated that “other payment platforms as well as apps would come soon this year.”

Coinbase, a largest crypto exchange, merged with Apple Pay and Google Pay in August 2021, allowing customers to buy crypto assets on its platform. According to Cointelegraph, the move allowed users in the United States to buy cryptocurrency using bank-issued debit and credit cards using Apple Pay, a conventional payment channel.

Coinbase released Coinbase Card in June 2021, allowing customers to spend cryptocurrencies in a variety of ways, including:

“Coinbase will automatically convert all cryptocurrency to US Dollars and transfer the funds to your Coinbase Card (less conversion fees) for use in purchases and ATM withdrawals.”

Crypto exchange Crypto.com followed suit and announced the Crypto.com Visa Card, which can be used with Apple Pay as well as other major digital wallets. In their statement, Apple stated:

“Tap to Pay on iPhone will work with contactless credit and debit cards from leading payment networks, including American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa.”

Apple Pay customers will be allowed to use the iPhone’s Tap to Pay function to make cryptocurrency payments across mainstream retailers as well as businesses, thanks to Coinbase’s capacity to transform a user’s crypto holdings to fiat in real-time for payments.

While Apple Pay is unlikely to accept direct purchases of goods and services using Bitcoin (BTC), this will transform the user’s crypto holdings towards the dollar figure needed by the merchant’s point-of-sale equipment in order to complete the transaction.

Not to mention that in November 2021, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced his own cryptocurrency purchases as “part of a diversified portfolio,” while stating that there are no imminent plans to use crypto as a form of payment for Apple products.

The Tap to Pay function will be available at Apple Stores, as well as on iPhone XS as well as later smartphones.

Cash App, a mobile payments application developed as well as owned by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s Block, has pledged support for BTC transfers via the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

Cash App customers will be able to make speedier BTC transactions across mainstream businesses now that the new feature has been released. Apart from New York, the corporation has extended the feature accessible across the United States, according to the report.