Turning Mobile Payments into a Crypto Gateway
With its latest Apple Pay integration, Mesh may have unlocked one of the most frictionless crypto payment experiences to date—merging mainstream mobile UX with stablecoin settlement for merchants.
Unveiled at Token2049 by CEO Bam Azizi, the integration allows users to pay with crypto via Apple Pay, while merchants receive instant settlement in stablecoins like USDC, USDT, or PYUSD. The system works both online and at physical point-of-sale through Apple’s native NFC support.
The core innovation lies in Mesh’s SmartFunding tech, which routes and converts crypto transactions in real time. The result is a fully abstracted experience: crypto in, stablecoins out, no additional infrastructure needed.
A De-Risked Onramp for Merchants
For merchants, this offers a compliant, FX-stable path to accepting crypto without exposure to volatility or needing to manage wallets, custody, or gas fees.
“Mesh is solving the UX and convenience pieces,” Azizi said. “This levels the playing field between crypto and fiat commerce.”
From a business strategy perspective, this drastically lowers the barrier to adoption—especially in regions where fiat onramps are expensive or unstable. It’s a model with potential to scale across retail, e-commerce, and gig economy platforms, particularly in emerging markets where mobile wallets dominate.
Positioning as a Web3 Infrastructure Backbone
Mesh’s integration ecosystem already includes Coinbase, MetaMask, Binance, Phantom, and others—offering both user-facing apps and backend developers a plug-and-play solution for payment flows.
Their recent $82 million Series B—led by Paradigm and backed by Consensys—positions them to expand aggressively. With over 300+ integrations live, Mesh is quickly emerging as the Stripe of Web3.
This integration with Apple Pay adds a mainstream access layer, giving Mesh first-mover advantage in a market that is rapidly converging crypto with legacy payment rails.
Investor Implications
For investors tracking infrastructure plays in Web3, Mesh’s Apple Pay feature checks several boxes:
- Mass-market usability
- Instant fiat/crypto conversion
- Low-cost merchant onboarding
- Layer-2 agnostic design
- Stablecoin-driven settlement model
In short, it’s a bet on infrastructure simplicity—the kind of elegant UX layering that often wins markets. As stablecoins continue to evolve as real-world settlement assets, platforms like Mesh could become essential middleware for everything from gaming to payroll to cross-border commerce.
