Crypto Payments Go Mobile: USDC to Introduce ‘Tap-and-Go’ on iPhones

As the global crypto industry continues to evolve, the integration of the sector along with traditional technologies is rapidly becoming a thing. The latest news highlighting this phenomenon is from Circle, a fintech company behind the issuance of the renowned stablecoin USDC.

Earlier today, the company’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire, disclosed in a post on X that Circle is gearing up to enable ‘tap-and-go’ payments using USDC on iPhones.

This development follows Apple’s latest decision to allow third-party developers access to its NFC chip and Secure Element technology. The trillion-dollar company particularly noted in the announcement:

Starting with iOS 18.1, developers will be able to offer NFC contactless transactions using the Secure Element from within their own apps on iPhone, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.

A New Era Incoming?

Giving further details into the USDC ‘tap-and-go’ launch on iPhones, Allaire highlighted the implications of this update for payment systems, noting that point-of-sale systems could soon communicate directly with iPhone wallets to process transactions using blockchain addresses.

This would facilitate “seamless” USDC payments to merchants authenticated via biometric features like FaceID. Allaire added:

Combining this with high-performance and low-fee blockchain networks (most these days), this will open up a powerful pathway for direct to merchant USDC payments.

Furthermore, Allaire pointed out that Apple’s latest move extends far beyond the USDC stablecoin.

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 no relationship with Apple and this… https://t.co/IZfLbIsWGp

— Jeremy Allaire – jda.eth / jdallaire.sol (@jerallaire) August 14, 2024

According to Allaire, with access to NFC technology, developers could innovate ways to use iPhones for various applications, from handling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for ticketing to managing other crypto stablecoins like EURC.

Apple’s third-party access to its NFC chip and Secure Element technology is limited to selected countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the US, and the UK.

The European Union was excluded as Apple didn’t mention it among the countries that will have access to this latest decision.

USDC Performance In The Crypto World

As it stands, USDC is currently ranked the second largest crypto stablecoin, following Tether’s USDT, which is the first. To put this into perspective, while USDT’s market cap sits at $116.4 billion, Circle’s USDC has a market cap of $34.5 million, nearly $100 billion difference when compared.

Regardless, USDC is still making its mark in the crypto space, specifically in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. According to data from DeFillma, USDC has supported 77 chains, while USDT has supported 76.

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView