Last night, news broke that Apple released a job posting for a business development manager who would be tasked with, among other things, serving as the company’s chief negotiator for the alternative payments space. Cryptocurrency familiarity was specifically required of a successfully candidate, noting it expected that the new hire would have at least five years of experience “working in or with alternative payment providers, such as digital wallets, BNPL [buy now pay later], Fast Payments, cryptocurrency and etc.”

“The job is listed as dealing with alternative payments, but I’d submit to you that Apple is preparing for a payments space which isn’t alternative at all,” said Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus, a US-based developer of ultra-high-performance trading and surveillance technology that powers global equities, derivatives, and digital asset exchanges. “Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are real, and they are, without a doubt, the next frontier of payments. It isn’t a matter of if, but, rather, when governments will launch their own digital currencies.”

Central banks have shown great interest in CBDCs. From The Bahamas, which has already issued a digital currency, to China, which is testing their e-yuan with vigor, a global race is underway. Beyond that, the European Union, Britain, and the United States all have begun looking at how they could develop and implement their own virtual currency.

“CBDCs would open the door to centralized government competition to many services offered currently by private entities. It could decrease banking costs to the populace and offered enhanced services to the world’s sizeable unbanked population. Companies like Apple are looking at cryptocurrencies, and they are visualizing the infancy of CBDCs. Once governments jump in and create their own digital assets, you’re going to see an explosion in adoption,” opined Gardner.

This week, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard gave a speech which detailed the benefits that a digital currency could provide. He opened the door to an emergence in the United States, noting:

The Federal Reserve remains committed to ensuring that the public has access to safe, reliable, and secure means of payment, including cash. As part of this commitment, we must explore — and try to anticipate — the extent to which households’ and businesses’ needs and preferences may migrate further to digital payments over time.

“What I can tell you is that large banks are already doing pilot tests. The emergence of CBDCs is going to require banks, brokerages, payment processors, and financial institutions to prepare for the infrastructure changes necessary to adapt. That’s very likely what’s happening here with Apple. We’ve been helping institutions prepare their technology for such an emergence since before The Bahamas first went live with their CBDC --- the market leaders saw this transformation coming long before the regulators began talking about it,” explained Gardner.
Modulus is known throughout the financial technology segment as a leader in the development of ultra-high frequency trading systems and blockchain technologies. Over the past twenty years, the company has built technology for the world’s most notable exchanges, with a client list which includes NASA, NASDAQ, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Barclays, Siemens, Shell, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Cornell University, and the University of Chicago.