As the global cryptocurrency industry continues to evolve, the sector’s integration with traditional technologies is rapidly becoming imperative. The latest news to highlight this phenomenon comes from Circle, the fintech company behind the popular stablecoin USDC.
Earlier today, the company’s CEO, Jeremy Allier, said, It has been revealed. In a post on X, Circle is preparing to enable “touch and go” payments using USDC on iPhones.
This development comes on the heels of Apple’s recent decision to allow third-party developers access to its NFC chip and Secure Element technology. The trillion-dollar company specifically noted that advertisement:
Starting with iOS 18.1, developers will be able to offer contactless NFC transactions using Secure Element from within their own apps on iPhone, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
Are we on the cusp of a new era?
Providing more details on the USDC “tap-and-go” launch on iPhones, Allaire highlighted the implications of this update for payment systems, noting that point-of-sale systems may soon communicate directly with iPhone wallets to process transactions using blockchain addresses.
This would facilitate “seamless” USDC payments to merchants who are authenticated through biometric features like FaceID. Alier added:
Combined with high-performance, low-fee blockchain networks (most of which are these days), this will open up a powerful path for direct payments to USDC merchants.
Furthermore, Allaire noted that Apple’s latest move extends beyond the USDC stablecoin.
There is a lot of chatter and questions about my tweet. I need more clarity so people don’t think this is not true.
Why is one-click payment with USDC on iPhone coming soon, and what does it mean for Wallet developers to get started?
– Circle has no relationship with Apple and this… https://t.co/IZfLbIsWGp
– Jeremy Allaire – jda.eth / jdallaire.sol (@jerallaire) August 14, 2024
According to Aller, with access to NFC technology, developers can come up with ways to use iPhones for different applications, ranging from handling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to managing tickets for other stablecoins like EURC.
Third-party access to Apple’s NFC chip and Secure Element technology is limited to select countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
The European Union has been excluded as Apple did not mention it among the countries that will have access to this latest decision.
USDC Performance in the Cryptocurrency World
Currently, USDC is the second largest cryptocurrency stablecoin, behind Tether’s USDT, which is the first. To put this into perspective, while USDT has a market cap of $116.4 billion, Circle’s USDC has a market cap of $34.5 million, which is a difference of about $100 billion when compared.
Regardless, USDC is still making its mark in the crypto space, especially in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. According to Data From DeFillma, USDC supported 77 chains, while USDT supported 76.
Featured image created using DALL-E, chart from TradingView
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