When will Tap-to-Pay (Apple/Google Pay) natively support crypto?

[eduardoaz]

Hi everyone, when do you think we will see true native crypto tap-to-pay? Right now if you use Apple Pay or Google Pay with crypto you are usually relying on a middleman like a crypto debit card provider that converts your crypto to fiat instantly behind the scenes. I mean actual native integration where Apple or Google wallets directly broadcast a stablecoin or layer 2 transaction straight to a merchant wallet at the terminal without any fiat bridge. Are we looking at 2028, 2030, or even later?

Do you think pure crypto networks can ever completely substitute the Visa and Mastercard duopoly for daily retail? If you think it's possible, what is your realistic timeline? If not, what are the primary roadblocks holding it back? In my view the biggest challenges we need to solve first are scalability and finality, because layer 2s or 3s need to consistently handle Visa level throughput globally without dropping seconds off checkout times. There is also the huge UX gap since reversing transactions or dealing with fraud protection through chargebacks doesn't naturally exist in immutable crypto. Finally there is the regulation and legacy pushback given the absolute grip the current duopoly has on bank integrations and merchant terminal hardware.

What are your thoughts? Is a direct crypto replacement of traditional payment rails an inevitability, or are we destined to just be an asset layer hidden inside Visa's nad Mastercard backend forever?

[joniboini]

In my country? Probably decades. Not sure I'll ever see one until I'm much older at least. My government is quite strict with limiting options for payments, especially with how bad the national economy is right now. I can't see it improving significantly anytime soon, to the point where they can comfortably let crypto enter the market for payments. Maybe if the forex pair isn't too bad we'll have another discussion.

Then again, other merchants (overseas) already accepts crypto even without Apple/Google Pay. I don't think I really need them either.

[Fortify]

Whether we like it or not, crypto might still be considered fringe by Apple and Google which are the two companies needed to progress this sort of integration. There are relatively few big companies who they would trust as a partner in this field, with maybe Coinbase (as it's a US stock market listed company) being acceptable enough. Then it will come down to whether it makes financial sense, because they will have agreements with the current payment processors and be able to take a known commission from each transaction to facilitate it in their wallets. If crypto is too variable on unmanageable then they simply won't be interested in taking control, it all requires the professor to act as a middleman and settle the conversion into a currency instantly, which also comes with risks to one of the parties and they'll probably want fair compensation for that.