Circle to Introduce USDC ‘Tap-and-Go’ Payments on iPhones

The integration of cryptocurrency with traditional technology is advancing rapidly, with Circle, the fintech company behind the USDC stablecoin, leading the charge.

Yesterday, Circle’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire, announced that the company is preparing to roll out ‘tap-and-go’ payments using USDC on iPhones.

This development comes on the heels of Apple’s decision to grant third-party developers access to its NFC chip and Secure Element technology starting with iOS 18.1. Apple’s announcement highlighted that developers will soon be able to integrate NFC contactless transactions into their own apps on iPhones, independent of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.

Allaire elaborated that this update could revolutionize payment systems by allowing point-of-sale systems to communicate directly with iPhone wallets for transactions involving blockchain addresses. This would enable “seamless” USDC payments authenticated through biometric features like FaceID.

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Beyond USDC, Allaire noted that this NFC access could inspire developers to create new uses for iPhones, including handling NFTs for ticketing and managing other crypto stablecoins such as EURC. However, this NFC technology access is currently restricted to select countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the US, and the UK, with the European Union not included in the initial rollout.

USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, trailing behind Tether’s USDT. USDC’s market cap stands at $34.5 billion, while USDT’s is approximately $116.4 billion. Despite the gap, USDC continues to make significant strides, particularly in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, supporting 77 chains compared to USDT’s 76.