Crypto payments startup Mesh is planning to roll out Apple Pay support for crypto transactions, allowing shoppers to pay with digital assets while settling transactions in stablecoins for merchants.

The feature, unveiled during Token2049 in Dubai, converts crypto to stablecoins at checkout using Mesh’s proprietary SmartFunding technology. The system sidesteps the need for merchants to handle crypto directly, offering what Mesh calls a “plug-and-play” payment option through Apple Pay’s interface.

This way, brick-and-mortar retailers and webshops can accept crypto payments without the need for building out the necessary infrastructure. Mesh plans to launch the feature later in the second quarter of the year.

“We believe that as soon as crypto payments are as seamless as fiat payments, nothing is left to stop the mass migration of global commerce onto blockchain rails,” said Bam Azizi, CEO and co-founder of Mesh.

Blockchain rails and stablecoins, which are crypto tokens pegged to the value of traditional currencies, have become increasingly central to payments. They offer faster, cheaper alternative to traditional channels, and are rapidly growing for remittances, payroll and commerce. Payments giant Stripe is testing a stablecoin tool following its acquisition of Bridge, while PayPal launched its own stablecoin.

Mesh raised $82 million earlier this year to expand its stablecoin-based payments settlement network globally.

The crypto market remains in prolonged consolidation with the overall market cap approaching $3 trillion as analysts eye a possible bitcoin (BTC) breakout that could push the market higher.

Bitcoin hovered near $95,00 on Thursday, while ether (ETH), BNB Chain’s BNB and Solana’s SOL remained stagnant. XRP and Cardano’s ADA dropped 2%, while dogecoin (DOGE) fell 3%.

Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) lost $56 million on Wednesday, breaking an eight-day streak that saw nearly $3 billion flow into these U.S.-listed products.

Markets have been generally range-bound in the past week, setting the course for what could be an explosive move higher, some say.

“Such long consolidations usually accumulate strength for further movement. The next major trigger is likely to be Friday’s labour market data,” Alex Kuptsikevich, FxPro chief market analyst, told CoinDesk in an email.

“For the past five days, the market has fluctuated in a very narrow range, with some tendency towards shallower declines. Still, it has been unable to exceed its 200-day moving average, which is now passing through $3.01 trillion. A global positive is needed for a breakout, but it would open the way to the $3.5 trillion area,” Kuptsikevich added, indicating strong movements in altcoins.

Pat Zhang, head of research at WOO X, mirrored the sentiment. “BTC continues to experience volatility, forming a consolidation range between $93,000 and $95,000 since April 25, building momentum for a potential breakout,” he said in a Telegram message.

“The average funding rate for BTC has been negative over the past week, which is rare, indicating intense whale activity both on and off exchanges,” Zhang added.

Over the past two years, the financing rate for bitcoin contracts has been negative only four times, specifically during Sept. 19- Sept. 22, 2023, Oct. 20-Oct. 27, 2023, Aug. 16- Aug. 24, 2024, and Sept. 10- Sept. 17, 2024.

“Following these periods of negative financing rates, BTC experienced strong upward trends, suggesting that whale accumulation could be positioning BTC for a potential upward move,” Zhang noted.

Macroeconomic sentiment remains dented as traders globally eye the next steps made by President Donald Trump in the ongoing tariff tussles.

Per Bloomberg, Trump acknowledged Wednesday that his tariff program had a perception problem and posed a significant political risk, but he remained determined to push on. He said “potential deals” with South Korea, India, and Japan were already in place and that a deal with China was progressing in his favor.

Dogecoin (DOGE) prices were little-changed after reports of carmaker Tesla searching for a new CEO to replace technocrat Elon Musk, which the company later refuted.

DOGE prices wobbled between the 16-17 cents mark in the past 24 hours, in line with a flat market. Musk is a known dogecoin backer whose comments, or developments at his companies, tend to impact the memecoin’s prices.

Tesla board members reached out about a month ago to several executive search firms to replace Musk, sparked by his heavy involvement with the Trump administration, per WSJ. The board members met Musk and asked him to acknowledge publicly that he would spend more time at Tesla.

“This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published),” Tesla’s X account said early Thursday. “The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.”

Musk called the report a «deliberately false article» in a follow-up post.

Tesla has accepted DOGE — the only token it supports — for merchandise payments on its site since early 2022. Users can directly connect their DOGE wallets to the site and transfer assets to Tesla’s Dogecoin wallets for purchases.