Signs Crop Up That Apple Is Exploring Cryptocurrency: What You Need To Know

Benzinga2021-05-27

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)  is on the hunt for a business development manager with experience in "cryptocurrency" to lead alternative payments partnerships, as per a job posting on its website.

What Happened: “The Apple Wallets, Payments, and Commerce (WPC) team is seeking an experienced Business Development Manager to lead Alternative Payments Partnerships,” Apple wrote in the listing. The iPhone maker called for candidates with "5+ years experience working in or with alternative payment providers, such as digital wallets, BNPL, Fast Payments, cryptocurrency."

The vacancy listed Wednesday mentions duties such as “forming partnership framework and commercial models, defining implementation paradigms, identifying key players and managing relationships with strategic alternative payment partners.”

The person Apple is looking to hire for its Cupertino, California headquarters would be responsible for “end to end business development,” which involves negotiating and closing commercial agreements.

Why It Matters: Apple has yet to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment and has tight control over payments.

The Tim Cook-led tech giant is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with “Fortnite” maker Epic Games overin-app payments.

In February, an analyst at RBC said that if the iPhone maker were to develop itsApple Wallet into a cryptocurrency exchangeit would have a sizable new market opportunity in the billions.

The analyst pointed to Square Inc(NYSE:SQ) and Paypal Holdings Inc(NASDAQ:PYPL) along with Coinbase Global Inc(NASDAQ:COIN) which have validated the business model.

Price Action: On Wednesday, Apple shares closed mostly unchanged at $126.85 and fell 0.12% in the after-hours session.Bitcoin(BTC) traded 0.96% lower at $38,332.92 at press time.

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