Upcoming Apple iPhone feature for crypto payments

[romero121]

Apple have planned to launch its tap to pay feature for the upcoming Apple iPhone. With this feature the smartphone serves as a point of sale machine. This service is provided through the NFC (Near Field Communication) technology.

This service is being offered for Apple pay, contactless credit and debit cards. Apart from this it has also added some digital wallets. Customers who use crypto.com card, coinbase card or similar crypto holding cards can also use this for payments through tap to pay.

Coinbase cards have got the feature of converting crypto into fiat instantly for payments. This way Apple pay users will be able to use the iPhone tap to pay feature to make crypto payments.

Last year Tim Cook revealed his personal portfolio having cryptocurrency holdings and there is no immediate plans for Apple get into cryptocurrency as means of payment and investment. So, Apple pay will not allow the direct payment of crypto. The crypto holding will get converted to dollar value as per the request from the pos. This way the payments will be done.

Data : Upcoming Apple iPhone feature to give merchants a way to accept crypto payments

[Anonylz]

Good enough for average users, not the hard-core crypto users, if there won't be a direct crypto payment I don't think many crypto lovers will be fascinated by the news, although the wallet will be a useful feature since apple is a very secure device compared to android, and making payments with crypto will be somewhat easier,  not bad at all, one step at a time, perhaps in future they will be more open to enable direct crypto payment.

[NeuroticFish]

Apple have planned to launch its tap to pay feature for the upcoming Apple iPhone.

While it's indeed a good step forward, I don't see it as a super wow news if it's not coming to also the older iPhone versions.
Many do prefer older iPhone simply because it's smaller. Or cheaper.

But this may be copied pretty soon by some Android phone makers and then it'll become interesting. After that, in max 2 years, everybody will have that option at hand.

[mk4]

Meh, good enough for iPhone users I guess? Even though it seems that it's just a slight convenience factor for Apple Pay users, not necessarily a significant thing when it comes to bitcoin/crypto payments.

[Charles-Tim]

While it's indeed a good step forward, I don't see it as a super wow news if it's not coming to also the older iPhone versions.
Many do prefer older iPhone simply because it's smaller. Or cheaper.

I do not know the reason why apple only wants this to only be possible on the upcoming new version of their iPhone. This might help in the adoption process because many people can as a result of this know more about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But, maybe I am not getting something rightly, I have been able to successfully use noncustododial wallet for payment, and I can decide to let some part of my transaction to be on custodial wallet and some when trading on exchanges, maybe I am not getting this rightly, but I believe this implementation is nothing new.

[stompix]

Reding the article there is nothing about crypto payments there:

It basically means that, unless Apple places a direct barrier for it, customers who are using Coinbase Card, Crypto.com Visa Card or a similar payment card would be able to use their cryptocurrency holdings to make payments via Tap to Pay.

So it will simply allow you to enroll a visa card issued by a 3rd party company and spend fiat not btc.

Here is the official announcement:
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/02/apple-unveils-contactless-payments-via-tap-to-pay-on-iphone/

Not a single word about either crypto or bitcoin.

[NeuroticFish]

but I believe this implementation is nothing new.

I wouldn't be surprised. The only differences I'd expect would be that's an app directly on the phone (don't need to search for the correct app), it's endorsed under the umbrella of Apple and it's probably kinda ready to use (no need to configure this or that). I would not be surprised if they will even allow the merchant choose whether he will actually receive crypto or fiat.

Not a single word about either crypto or bitcoin.

I didn't look deeper, but maybe Stripe (whose actually is this "Tap to Pay") gives more details?

[ChiBitCTy]

I know everyone here is complaining (myself included) but hey this is pretty huge news coming out of one of the worlds top 3 wealthiest companies who’ve likely got the most cell phones in peoples hands worldwide. A start is always progress on our way to even bigger and better things, hopefully!

[stompix]

I didn't look deeper, but maybe Stripe (whose actually is this "Tap to Pay") gives more details?

If Stripe would allow crypto payments we would know it the second they say something about it, after they've ditched crypto payments back in 2018 this would be like one of those truly important moments, everyone would see it as a huge company realizing it was a mistake to ditch bitcoin and probably it would top every other news to date this year.

But no, they are silent about it, since last year when they said they are open to rethinking there was no news about it.

If we go really down the speculation path, yeah it could end with them accepting crypto, this move has been dubbed "Square killer"so if they want to really compete against the devices Square sells then they should cover all the markets, but..just speculation to this point.

[Husires]

I don't think this news has anything to do with crypto even, but an additional advantage of debit cards, even if it is in Bitcoin or any currency.
If we assume that Apple has added a wallet of cryptocurrency, secure, and not connected to the Internet, then it may be related to cryptography.
Services like coinbase are considered bad because of the slow support team and Crypto.com has been hacked recently.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

So Apple are moving behind Samsung in crypto. They have no choice to adapt to crypto growth and move together with the big trend. The technology competition nowadays is very hard and if they reject to adapt to it, they will fail and worse, collapse like Nokia about 15 years ago.

They have huge ecosystem, fans and customer population which are big advantage for them. However, it only makes sense if they are adaptive to crypto.

[NeuroticFish]

I didn't look deeper, but maybe Stripe (whose actually is this "Tap to Pay") gives more details?

If Stripe would allow crypto payments we would know it the second they say something about it, after they've ditched crypto payments back in 2018 this would be like one of those truly important moments, everyone would see it as a huge company realizing it was a mistake to ditch bitcoin and probably it would top every other news to date this year.

But no, they are silent about it, since last year when they said they are open to rethinking there was no news about it.

If we go really down the speculation path, yeah it could end with them accepting crypto, this move has been dubbed "Square killer"so if they want to really compete against the devices Square sells then they should cover all the markets, but..just speculation to this point.

Hmmm... I've searched a little deeper and I indeed didn't find anything clear about them accepting crypto.
It looks like a speculation indeed, it tells that it can, technically, be also used for accepting crypto unless it'll be blocked by Apple. Or basically if the stars align and whatever boss there has a nice dream about bitcoin. And then they've hinted to the partnership with Coinbase.

Although I still have some hopes that I could have been missing something, I think that there's a high chance you're right. I'm somewhat disappointed...

[ivankoh]

Perhaps this is the best support that Apple has to "force" to take advantage of to cope with the blockchain era, including pressure from Apple users and competition for services and technology in the brand.  For an iPhone enthusiast, I believe this is good news for both Apple and market sentiment.

[kryptqnick]

When I started reading the op, I didn't understand what was a big deal because people have been paying with smartphones using NFC for a while on Apple and Android, but then I understood that it's the other way around, and people will be able to accept payments (including crypto payments) onto iPhones. It's great, but it's still something involving cards, so it's only for custodial storing of cryptos, right? Moreover, the article says the process will most likely involve conversion into fiat. So it's not a big adoption point, really, at least not for cryptos. Also, I'm interested in tax implications as it's selling crypto for fiat, which for now calls for a tax report in the US, doesn't it?

[dothebeats]

Would be nice if they can integrate it on Apple watch, too. I know they will since that watch is great on payments on the go, especially on public transportation. This is an okay news for people who are already accustomed to tap-to-pay features, and at the same time engaged in cryptocurrencies. The scene is developing day by day, and I think we're not far from a reality wherein phone manufacturers have this feature on their phones by default.

[Minecache]

Would be nice if they can integrate it on Apple watch, too. I know they will since that watch is great on payments on the go, especially on public transportation. This is an okay news for people who are already accustomed to tap-to-pay features, and at the same time engaged in cryptocurrencies. The scene is developing day by day, and I think we're not far from a reality wherein phone manufacturers have this feature on their phones by default.

I don't know about the Apple watch, cause the Apple watch is not secure as iPhone. But it would have been great news if they had really added cryptocurrency to their Apple Pay apps.

I think they will not integrate the tap to pay feature for cryptocurrency on Apple Pay in near future. cause I've seen Tim Cook's tv show, he said people can use cryptocurrency on Apple Pay by using 3rd party credit cards like Coinbase cards/Crypto.com cards. So they are thinking it is useless to integrate cryptos in Apple Pay by default.

[CaVO32]

Would be nice if they can integrate it on Apple watch, too. I know they will since that watch is great on payments on the go, especially on public transportation. This is an okay news for people who are already accustomed to tap-to-pay features, and at the same time engaged in cryptocurrencies. The scene is developing day by day, and I think we're not far from a reality wherein phone manufacturers have this feature on their phones by default.

I don't know about the Apple watch, cause the Apple watch is not secure as iPhone. But it would have been great news if they had really added cryptocurrency to their Apple Pay apps.

I think they will not integrate the tap to pay feature for cryptocurrency on Apple Pay in near future. cause I've seen Tim Cook's tv show, he said people can use cryptocurrency on Apple Pay by using 3rd party credit cards like Coinbase cards/Crypto.com cards. So they are thinking it is useless to integrate cryptos in Apple Pay by default.

If they are charging competitive fees, Apple Pay users may really benefit this added feature. But usually you end up paying expensive fees in this manner. And you will see that paying fiat is still the best way. So let us see what rates they are going to implement on using this feature. On the other hand, it may encourage their users to try using crypto transactions. And if the user is satisfied, they can contribute in the growing adoption of crypto users.

[AakZaki]

Would be nice if they can integrate it on Apple watch, too. I know they will since that watch is great on payments on the go, especially on public transportation. This is an okay news for people who are already accustomed to tap-to-pay features, and at the same time engaged in cryptocurrencies. The scene is developing day by day, and I think we're not far from a reality wherein phone manufacturers have this feature on their phones by default.

Embedding crypto payment features by default may become a reality, and it becomes a payment option that can be used or not used.
The use of the Apple Watch for crypto payments will definitely be integrated as the apple watch is an essential part of the easiest tap to pay payment process. Of course there will be many new innovations in the future if Apple really comes with a crypto payment feature.

[bubidan.id]

Maybe what Apple is doing now is a new breakthrough for the development of technology and cryptocurrencies, given the rapid development of cryptocurrencies today, maybe Apple doesn't want to be left behind in this step, besides that it can attract more Apple customers, because people are enthusiastic about crypto very high, for last year there may not have been any view of this progress, and it has only been realized now, I think it is very good.

[pinggoki]

Maybe what Apple is doing now is a new breakthrough for the development of technology and cryptocurrencies, given the rapid development of cryptocurrencies today, maybe Apple doesn't want to be left behind in this step, besides that it can attract more Apple customers, because people are enthusiastic about crypto very high, for last year there may not have been any view of this progress, and it has only been realized now, I think it is very good.

It's not a breakthrough, that's a big word because I think that some other payment system have probably done crypto payments, it's pretty easy to do that so I don't think that there's not a lot of new thing in this feature. Maybe it's a good thing but not a breakthrough, I really hope that they allow a plethora of cryptocurrencies to be a mode of payment.