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The European Commission is opening an antitrust investigations into Apple's Apple Pay practices to assess whether Ait violates EU competition rules. Apple has limited access to the Near Field Communication (NFC) functionality of its iPhone and Apple Watch devices, a move that means banks and other financial service providers can't offer NFC payments through their own apps. It also reserves the 'tap and go' functionality of iPhones to Apple Pay.

Roberto Garavaglia has explored the implications of the Apple iOS 18.1 update's opening of access to iPhone secure elements to developers to allow them to offer contactless near field communication (NFC) transactions directly within their apps, outside of the Apple Pay and Apple wallet ecosystem. This will open the use of Apple devices not only for payments, but also for digital access and identification. Developers will be able to integrate a wide range of services, from in-store payments to digital keys for cars, company badges, loyalty cards and government documents. However, challenges remain with regard to Apple's control and compliance with European standards.

Starting with iOS 18.1, iOS developers will be able to offer near-field communication (NFC) contactless transactions using the secure element (SE) from within their own apps on iPhones, separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. Using the new NFC and SE, application programming interfaces (APIs), developers will be able to offer in-app contactless transactions for in-store payments, car keys, closed-loop transit, corporate badges, student IDs, home keys, hotel keys, merchant loyalty and rewards cards, and event tickets, with government IDs to be supported in the future. The only catch is that developers will need to enter into a commercial agreement with Apple, request the NFC and SE entitlement, and pay the associated fees. This follows a commitment made by Apple to the European Commission in July 2024 to grant European iOS developers similar NFC and SE access to address antitrust charges. Even the new commitment is not fully global in scope. The NFC and SE APIs will only be available to developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, although additional locations are said to follow.

Apple will reportedly begin rolling out its new Tap to Pay feature for the public.  The feature was unveiled in February and lets iPhones that were compatible take payments through Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit, or other digital wallets. The feature will let small businesses and merchants take contactless payments via supported iOS apps. The merchant at checkout will prompt the customer to hold their device, either an iPhone, Apple Watch or contactless credit or debit card, near the merchant's iPhone, and the payment will be completed.

"Apple Intelligence is the personal intelligence system that brings powerful generative models to iPhone, iPad, and Mac. For advanced features that need to reason over complex data with larger foundation models, we created Private Cloud Compute (PCC), a groundbreaking cloud intelligence system designed specifically for private AI processing. For the first time ever, Private Cloud Compute extends the industry-leading security and privacy of Apple devices into the cloud, making sure that personal user data sent to PCC isn't accessible to anyone other than the user - not even to Apple. Built with custom Apple silicon and a hardened operating system designed for privacy, we believe PCC is the most advanced security architecture ever deployed for cloud AI compute at scale."

BitPay Mastercard holders can now add Apple Pay as an option to pay for goods and services, and the Bitcoin payments firm say they will be adding Google Pay and Samsung Pay later this quarter. BitPay cardholders will be able to make online and in-store purchases and spend BTC wherever Apple Pay is accepted.s Support For Apple Pay

Apple plans to introduce Tap to Pay on iPhone to allow retailers to use their (XS or later) iPhone to seamlessly and securely accept Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets through a simple tap to their iPhone - no additional hardware or payment terminal needed. It will be available to participating payment platforms and their app developer partners to leverage in their software developer kits (SDKs) in an upcoming iOS software beta.

Apple could be forced to allow third-party payment apps to access the NFC chip in the iPhone and Apple Watch without having to use Apple Pay. The European Union is purportedly considering new antitrust legislation in response to complaints by banks that Apple's restrictions on access to the chip are anticompetitive. The report is set to be unveiled next week by the European Commission as part of a package of policy proposals. Germany has already passed a law which would require this.

"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a new issue spotlight highlighting the impacts of Big Tech companies' policies and practices that govern tap-to-pay on mobile devices like smartphones and watches. Apple currently forbids banks and payment apps from accessing the tap-to-pay functionality on Apple iOS devices and imposes fees through Apple Pay. Google's Android operating system does not currently have such a policy. The issue spotlight explains how regulations imposed by mobile operating systems can have a significant impact on innovation, consumer choice, and the growth of open and decentralized banking and payments in the U.S."

The European Central Bank (ECB) is opposed to Apple's proposed changes to the iPhone's near-field communication (NFC) at the core of Apple Pay. The ECB argues that by not providing third parties with full access to the secure element (SE) of its NFC technology, Apple Pay maintains an unfair advantage against third-party payment apps on iPhones. Because of these limitations, contactless payments made through third-party apps on iPhone would be less user-friendly and ultimately be slower than Apple's offering. Also, iPhones would be incompatible with the digital euro, because the current enabling legislation requires the ability to do peer-to-peer (P2P) and offline payments, the latter which requires access to the SE.

Apple has acquired Mobeewave, a startup with technology that could transform iPhones into mobile payment terminals. Mobeewave's technology lets shoppers tap their credit card or smartphone on another phone to process a payment. The system works with an app and doesn't require hardware beyond a Near Field Communications, or NFC, chip, which iPhones have included since 2014. Samsung Electronics Co. partnered with Mobeewave last year to allow its phones to use the technology.

The European Commission has made commitments offered by Apple legally binding under EU antitrust rules. The commitments address the Commission's competition concerns relating to Apple's refusal to grant rivals access to a standard technology used for contactless payments with iPhones in stores ('Near-Field-Communication (NFC)' or 'tap and go').

Transactors can use the smartwatch app to generate a QR code - a square-shaped barcode - that someone else can then scan with their smartphone to send over a payment.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may consider subpoenaing major tech companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft in search of taxpayers' unreported cryptocurrency holdings.

"Bitcoin is like backing Apple when it was on the edge of going bust: do you believe in the future or not? If you do, you hold forever and buy the dips. The only thing you mustn't do with the position is let that put your finances at risk or hurt your sanity."

"People think I got into bitcoin because I have a high risk tolerance. Actually I got in because I have a low risk tolerance for worst case scenarios... Should bitcoin be more correlated with gold than with Apple stock? Maybe. But as John Maynard Keynes put it, "markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.""

These days, by far the fastest and most efficient way of delivering money is via smartphones and mobile devices. The U.S. government should simply provide a general portal to a wide range of payment delivery mechanisms. Visa and Mastercard are easily capable of handling these payments, especially as their normal transaction volumes have fallen significantly due to the shutdown. But the government should also work with platforms such as Venmo, Zelle, Square Cash, Paypal, Apple Pay and Google Pay [Chime, a San Francisco fintech startup, says it's piloted a way to distribute the $1200]. And it could also offer payment in cryptocurrency as an option.

"Binance is now offering tokens for Coinbase, Tesla and Apple stock on its platform. So what exactly are these 'synthetic' digital assets - and are they the same thing as owning the actual stock?"

The new MoCaFi Mobility Bank Account comes with the MoCaFi Mobility Debit Mastercard® which provides access no charge ATM withdrawals and options on how to load your funds. The MoCaFi Debit Card can be used at any of the 55,000 AllPoint Network ATMs to withdraw cash with no surcharge fee. The MoCaFi Debit Card is issued by Sunrise Banks N.A., Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard International Incorporated. The card may be used everywhere Debit Mastercard is accepted. A MoCaFi Bank Account can be opened in minutes with the MoCaFi app, available in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. When a MoCaFi account is opened, the customer immediately receives their account number and routing number for direct depositing approved payroll and government benefits checks.

The Sygnum Digital Swiss Franc (DCHF), which is pegged on a 1:1 basis with the fiat currency, was used to complete a payment for an Apple iPad at Digitec Galaxus, Switzerland's largest online retailer. Coinify, a digital currency platform provider, enabled the sale to take place. Sygnum said its offering stands out against other stablecoin issuers such as Tether because it is a regulated bank-meaning one Swiss franc is verifiably held as collateral for every DCHF that is in circulation.