Stablecoin Experience Listed as a Hiring Bonus—Is Apple Pay About to Get a New Story?
Original author: KarenZ, Foresight News
Understanding stablecoins is a plus for applying to a financial strategy role at Apple Pay.
In a recent job posting published by Apple, "knowledge of stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and blockchain technology" appeared among the preferred qualifications for the head of Apple Pay financial product strategy. The role centers on Apple Card and Apple Cash, involving credit cards, person-to-person transfers, and balance services.
When these words appear in the same job description alongside credit cards, person-to-person transfers, and account balances, the question becomes concrete: can stablecoins enter Apple's existing financial services and take on part of the fund flow?
Apple has now entered a new phase of management: John Ternus has taken over as CEO, while Cook has moved to the role of executive chairman. From Cook's past public statements, to hiring across different teams, to third-party crypto services offered within Apple's ecosystem, there are already many clues about Apple's connection to Web3. But to understand the significance of these clues, one must first distinguish: which are talent reserves, which have already become products, and which remain only ideas.
First, read this job posting carefully: where do stablecoins fit in?
The official title for this hire is Head of Apple Pay Financial Product Strategy. The core responsibilities include evaluating growth opportunities, analyzing business models and potential partnerships, and providing financial analysis for product decisions, formulating long-term strategy, and possibly involving other areas such as wallet, payments, and commerce.
The stablecoin-related content appears under "Preferred Qualifications."
According to the author's verification, as of the time of writing on September 22, stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and other preferred qualifications could not yet be found in the job listing itself, but this preferred qualification can be seen when searching by keyword.
"Tokenized deposits" being listed alongside stablecoins is also worth noting. Simply put, stablecoins attempt to peg token value to assets such as the U.S. dollar; tokenized deposits are bank deposits recorded in tokenized form, still representing the holder's claim on a commercial bank. Both may be used in new payment systems, but the rights corresponding to the funds are not the same.
Combined with the job responsibilities, this set of keywords offers a direction worth tracking: is Apple's financial products team evaluating new ways to record and transfer funds? But the job posting itself does not explain the use cases, technical route, or project progress, and it cannot be determined whether stablecoins will be used in Apple's payment business.
Apple's attention to crypto technology has precedent
Looking back, this is not the first time Apple's job postings have intersected with the crypto industry.
In February 2020, Jeff Bronikowski, former head of technology innovation at Warner Music, joined Apple as global head of strategic music initiatives for Apple Music. According to Reuters, during his time at Warner, he was involved in advancing digital asset exploration related to Dapper Labs and the Flow blockchain.
In May 2021, according to AppleInsider, Apple had recruited an "Alternative Payments Business Development Manager" responsible for finding partners, negotiating commercial agreements, and driving new projects. At the time, the role listed digital wallets, buy now pay later (BNPL), fast payments, and cryptocurrencies among relevant areas of experience.
On November 9 of the same year, Cook said at The New York Times DealBook online summit that he personally held cryptocurrency and had been studying the field. Speaking about Apple, he at the time ruled out the idea of using the company's cash to invest in cryptocurrency and said there were no near-term plans to let consumers use cryptocurrency to buy Apple products, but he also mentioned that the company was watching other possibilities.
In the spring of 2022, Apple recruited a senior legal counsel for Apple Pay and Wallet, a role involving legal experience in areas such as digital identity, blockchain and digital assets, mobile wallets, and payment platforms. In July of the same year, requirements for an interest in Web3 appeared again in recruiting for an associate creative director and art director in Apple's retail engagement and marketing team.
By June 2025, Fortune cited anonymous sources as saying that Apple had discussed stablecoin integration.
These materials differ in evidentiary strength: job postings can show talent demand, interviews can show the public attitude at the time, and reports based on anonymous sources can provide direction for further tracking. Only specific products and partnership documents can answer how the actual business operates.
At that layer, third parties have already made many connections.
Some third parties have already built connections
To understand these connections, one must first distinguish among Apple Wallet, Apple Pay, and the App Store.
In the scenarios discussed in this article, Apple Wallet is used to add and manage payment cards, Apple Pay provides the payment method, and the App Store handles app distribution. When crypto asset exchange, trading, or custody is involved, the service provider behind it must be further identified.
One common type of connection is support for adding crypto payment cards to Apple Wallet. U-cards such as Ether.fi Cash Card, Plasma One Card, Bybit Card, Bitget Wallet Card, and OKX Card can all be added to Apple Wallet.
Such products are often called "U-cards," but which assets are supported, how charges are deducted, and which regions can apply must be checked separately in each product's rules. Cards of the same brand may also differ by region.
In these cases, what users add to Apple Wallet is a payment card. The assets linked to the card, exchange arrangements, or credit services operate according to the rules of the issuer and relevant service providers.
Another direction is using Apple Pay as a payment entry point for buying crypto or topping up. Third-party on-ramp services (such as MoonPay, Banxa, Transak, and others), some wallets (such as MetaMask), and exchanges (such as Binance and Bybit), and even the recently popular fomo, all support using Apple Pay as a payment entry point for buying crypto or topping up. However, availability is highly dependent on region, card issuing country, KYC status, and other factors, and most implementations work by linking a Visa/Mastercard rather than Apple Pay directly holding or transferring crypto. Fees also need to be checked against each third party's specific pricing and cannot be generalized.
There is also a historical clue from Circle that needs to be read together with subsequent changes. In November 2022, Circle announced that its payment solution supported Apple Pay, allowing eligible businesses to accept this payment method, and the article also mentioned the use of USDC settlement. But the original text later added a note: this Apple Pay feature for Circle customers ceased to be available starting in April 2023.
These cases together show that real connections already exist between Apple's ecosystem and the crypto industry, but the specific business providers and responsible parties need to be identified one by one.
Apple's own actions are more reflected in interfaces and rules
Beyond third-party integrations, Apple's adjustments to platform capabilities and review rules also affect how crypto services reach users.
In August 2024, Apple announced that starting with iOS 18.1, developers could use NFC and the Secure Element to offer contactless transactions within their own apps independently of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. Under the plan announced at the time, developers need to sign a commercial agreement, apply for relevant permissions, pay fees, and meet corresponding requirements.
The most intuitive experience of NFC is holding a phone near another device. The opening of this capability provides conditions for third parties to design new payment interactions.
At the time, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire proposed the idea of using USDC on an iPhone for "tap to pay." He later clarified that Circle had no relevant partnership with Apple at the time and that this matter did not involve Apple Pay. What he was discussing was the possibility of third-party wallets using the open capability to initiate on-chain transactions.
The distinction here is: Apple opened a general capability, and crypto companies saw an application opportunity. The former is an announced platform change, while the latter still needs to be verified through specific products.
App Store rules affect another layer of the issue: which apps can be listed, and how they can provide services. In Section 3.1.5 of its App Review Guidelines, Apple sets requirements for wallets, mining, trading, and certain token issuance and financial transaction businesses.
First, crypto wallets can be listed, but developers need to register as organizations. The guidelines allow apps to provide virtual currency storage, provided that the developer offering the app joins the Apple Developer Program as an organization.
Second, on-device mining is prohibited. Apple does not allow apps to directly use devices for cryptocurrency mining, but permits related computation to be completed off-device, such as cloud mining.
Third, crypto trading services are subject to regional and qualification constraints. The guidelines allow third-party apps to conduct cryptocurrency trading or transfers through approved exchanges, but apps may only provide such services in countries or regions where they have the corresponding licenses and permits. For developers, listing eligibility and business operating eligibility are two different things: getting into the App Store does not mean being able to conduct trading business for users in all regions.
Fourth, for apps involving ICOs and certain financial transactions, the scope of providers is narrower. For apps providing initial coin offerings (ICOs), cryptocurrency futures, and other crypto securities or quasi-securities trading, Apple requires them to come from banks, securities firms, futures commission merchants (FCMs), or other recognized financial institutions, and to comply with all applicable laws. This differs from the organizational registration requirement for ordinary wallets and imposes more specific restrictions on business providers.
Fifth, crypto apps cannot distribute currency rewards for designated tasks. Examples listed in the guidelines include downloading other apps, encouraging others to download, and posting on social networks. This constrains some promotional methods that exchange token rewards for downloads, user acquisition, or virality.
But meeting listing requirements is only the first step. When crypto apps begin selling digital content or software features, Apple's in-app purchase rules and commissions also come into play.
Section 3.1.1 states that unlocking in-app features or content, such as subscriptions, game currency, levels, premium content, or full versions, in principle requires the use of Apple's in-app purchase mechanism (IAP). The rules also explicitly list that cryptocurrency, crypto wallets, QR codes, and license keys cannot be used as alternative mechanisms to unlock content or features on their own. In specific applications, business exceptions and regional rules in the guidelines must also be taken into account.
These regulations show that Apple's management of crypto apps has become detailed down to developer identity, computation methods, operating regions, financial qualifications, and promotional behavior. For Web3 companies, whether a product can reach iPhone users depends not only on whether the technology can be implemented, but also on whether the service method can comply with these requirements. This is also an important clue for observing the relationship between Apple and the crypto industry: changes in platform rules may directly affect how third-party products can be designed, to whom they can be offered, and how they can acquire users.
Conclusion
Putting these clues together, it can be seen that Apple and the crypto industry continue to intersect. But these facts are still not enough to prove that Apple has already decided to let stablecoins handle part of the fund flow for Apple Card or Apple Cash.
Ternus taking over as CEO provides a new time marker for observing Apple's choices in the next phase, but the management transition itself does not indicate that its crypto strategy has already shifted. Whether stablecoins can move from a preferred qualification in a job posting to a product feature will ultimately be answered by specific products, partnerships, and terms of service.
