During a recent private event in San Francisco, one of Apple’s top executives made an interesting reveal. Specifically, the executive said that Apple is currently closely watching cryptocurrency. Moreover, she also said that Apple already believes it “has interesting long-term potential”.
Apple is watching crypto
This executive is Apple’s Vice President of Apple Pay, Jennifer Bailer. Most notably, Apple is currently pushing into consumer finance products. With the launch of Apple’s “Apple Card” credit card, Apple Pay is more relevant than ever.
However, the initial reveal of Apple Card saw widespread criticism. Mainly, crypto observers were outraged that the credit card did not have any blockchain or cryptocurrency features. Rather, the card is simply an Apple-branded credit card, with some additional bells and whistles.
This means that Bailey’s comments are especially notable. They recognize that Apple is indeed keeping an eye on the cryptocurrency market and its developments. Moreover, the fact that the Vice President for Apple Pay believes this means that the product could likely see crypto adoption in the future.
“We’re watching cryptocurrency. We think it’s interesting,” Bailey said to CNN during the private event. She also added that “we [Apple] think it has interesting long-term potential.”
Apple Pay is an ideal candidate for crypto adoption
In addition to this, Bailey also told those attending more about the emerging crypto asset class. She directly related this to the future of digital payments – an industry which Apple is offensively moving into with Apple Pay.
That Apple is watching crypto and could move into it may be seen as wishful thinking to some. However, Apple has a stated goal of massively increasing its service revenue growth – of which financial products is a part.
This was part of the reasoning behind Apple Card, which is done by Apple in collaboration with both Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. If actualized, crypto adoption – in some way – by Apple could be a seismic event for the industry as a whole.
According to Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, such a move would be “a major shot in the arm for crypto”. Seeing that Apple is watching crypto and pondering its potential could massively legitimize the sector even further.
Nonetheless, it then becomes a question of what form potential Apple crypto adoption would take. It is unclear whether this would be a form of proprietary crypto token – perhaps like Facebook’s Libra -, adopting blockchain technology for the technical backend, or something different altogether.
Rasmus Pihl is a writer for Toshi Times by day and an avid follower of the cryptocurrency industry by night. Rasmus holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the Gothenburg School of Business, Economics, and Law and runs a Swedish marketing consulting firm. Moreover, when he isn’t writing for Toshi Times, traveling, working or changing the world in some other capacity, Rasmus is more than likely caught up in postgraduate studies.
