As Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will soon open payments on their iPhone to third parties, stablecoin issuer Circle says it will soon compete with other traditional payment providers.
According to Apple, in-app, NFC transactions will be opened to developers with the release of iOS 18.1.
“APIs, developers will be able to offer in-app contactless transactions for in-store payments, car keys, closed-loop transit, corporate badges, student IDs, home keys, hotel keys, merchant loyalty and rewards cards, and event tickets, with government IDs to be supported in the future.”
Apple must approve developers, and accepted Apps must pay a fee to the tech firm.
Apple has been under pressure for years to allow others access to its payment ecosystem. The European Union has been at the top of the list of jurisdictions seeking to enable others to leverage the ubiquitous iPhone for payments.
As for Circle, CEO and founder Jeremy Allaire said via X that payments using USDC, its dollar-based stablecoin, on iPhones are “incoming soon.”
One of the benefits of using a stablecoin for payments and transfers is the immediacy as well as the low cost of transactions when compared to legacy payment rails.
re: my iPhone NFC USDC post….
Lots of chatter and questions about my tweet. A bit more clarity so that people don’t make this into something it is not. Why is tap to pay using USDC on iPhones incoming soon, and what does it mean for Wallet devs to get going?
– Circle has…
— Jeremy Allaire – jda.eth / jdallaire.sol (@jerallaire) August 14, 2024
