Tap to Pay With USDC is Coming to iPhones Soon

iPhone users will soon be able to pay with USDC by tapping their device as Apple opens up development on its smartphone's secure payment chips to third-party developers.

“Tap to pay using USDC on iPhones incoming soon. Wallet devs, start your engines,” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire announced on X.

In a statement, Apple revealed that with its latest iPhone update, 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."

This will allow crypto developers to integrate blockchain-based payment functionality on iPhones.

Allaire explained that before this update, only Apple's own Wallet app and the Apple Pay feature could utilize NFC on iPhones.

“This would allow a [point of sale] to tell an iPhone what blockchain address it will accept USDC on, or the amount to pay, and then the iPhone-based wallet app could prompt the user to confirm a payment (like with FaceID) and initiate a transaction over the blockchain to settle the USDC,” Allaire said.

By granting NFC chip access to developers, Apple is unlocking opportunities for other Web3 tech such as NFTs and other stablecoins, Allaire added.

Apple's APIs would be made available to developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States but the tech giant did not mention the European Union and its 27 member nations.

Earlier this week, MetaMask announced a pilot launch of MetaMask Card through a partnership with Mastercard and Baanx.

The partnership introduces the world's first Mastercard payment card that allows users to make direct purchases from their MetaMask wallet from anywhere Mastercard is accepted, according to a post on their website.