Apple announced plans to launch tap to pay for iPhone, a new feature that effectively turns the smartphone into a point-of-sale device for businesses and merchants. So, what’s in it for crypto? The announcement elaborates that with Tap to Pay, iPhone-owning merchants receive contactless payments by using their mobile equipment in the form of POS machines. Accordingly to Apple, the soon-to-be-launched Tap to Pay feature will extend contactless digital wallets. It means that, unless Apple places a direct barrier for it, customers who are using Coinbase card, Crypto Visa card, or a similar payment card would be able to utilize their cryptocurrency holders to make payments via Tap to Pay. 

We merely introduced Tap to Pay on iPhone, a great way for millions of small businesses to accept contactless payments right from their iPhone.” It’s effortless, secure and will be coming out eventually this year,” hailed Tim Cook. While Apple has announced the upcoming Stripe, an Irish-American fintech introduced the first platform to offer the Tap to Pay feature on iPhone. The company clarified that additional payment platforms and apps would follow later this year. In August 2021, major crypto exchange Coinbase integrated with Apple Pay and Google pay, allowing users to buy crypto assets on its platform. 

The move allowed the United States-based customers to purchase crypto using bank-issued debit and credit cards via a mainstream payment platform, Apple Pay. In June 2021, Coinbase launched a Coinbase card, enabling users to spend cryptocurrencies across mainstream avenues: “Coinbase will automatically convert all cryptocurrency to US Dollars and transfer the funds to your Coinbase Card for use in purchasing goods and ATM withdrawals.” Following suit, crypto exchange Crypto.com launched a similar offering named Crypto.com Visa Card, which can be included in apple pay and other significant digital wallets.

Apple has been established: “Tap to Pay on iPhone will monitor with contactless credit and debit cards from leading payment networks, including American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa.” Considering Coinbase’s capability to convert a user’s crypto holdings to fiat in real-time for payments, Apple Pay users will be able to use the iPhones Tap to Pay feature to estimate crypto payments across mainstream merchants and businesses. While apple pay will probably not allow direct purchase of goods and services via Bitcoin, it will convert the user’s crypto holdings to match the dollar amount requested by the merchant’s POS machine to compose the purchase.

Let’s also not forget that in Nov 2021, Apple CEO Tim Cook divulged the personal purchase of cryptocurrencies as “part of a variegated portfolio” while highlighting no immediate plans to accept crypto in such payment for Apple products. Apple predicts to roll out the Tap to Pay feature on Apple Stores, iPhone XS, and later devices.