Apple Executive Admits Company Is Observing Cryptocurrency Developments

While that several big organizations have already shown their interest in cryptocurrencies, this time it is the Cupertino-based tech giant Apple that is having a close watch on all developments within the crypto space.

In a recent interview to CNN, Jennifer Bailey, the Vice President of Apple Pay admitted that Apple is “watching cryptocurrency” and further added that “We think it’s interesting. We think it has interesting long-term potential.”

Bailey’s opinion about cryptocurrency came at the time when she was speaking on the future of payments industry. Almost every tech giant is flexing its muscles to get its share in the online payments business, and so, Apple is no different!

Last month in partnership with MasterCard, Apple launched the Apple Card for US customers which is integrated with the company’s Apple Pay ecosystem. This announcement by the tech giant is seen as an attempt to boost it Apple Pay services in the payments market.

Contactless payments are seeing a rise across the world and Bailey says that Apple is all willing to stay ahead in this game. Ever since Apple launched the Apple Pay in 2014, contactless payments in stores have significantly jumped from 3% to over 70% in the U.S.

But Bailey admits that the pace of adoption is still less when compared to other European nations. "When you go to Europe, they bring you a wireless terminal. You can tap to pay," she said. "We see that happening in the US too, [but] it's still taking some time.”

Although showing some interest in cryptocurrencies, Bailey didn’t explicitly mentioned how the company would leverage the crypto use if it all plans to participate in this industry. It would be too early for Apple to venture in this space as the company is known for analyzing the the depth and potential of the market before jumping into it.

Apple’s crypto-praise comes just at a time when other tech giant’s like Facebook as testing waters by announcing projects like the Libra cryptocurrency. ever since Facebook unveiled the Libra whitepaper in June 2019, it has been on the radar of the regulators who have time-and-again expressed their lack of confidence in Facebook to execute such a big project.

Knowing that the regulatory scenario is still much hostile towards digital currencies, Apple will prefer to stay an observer until the crypto industry gets any green light.