Apple is dedicated to coming into into agreements with various fee suppliers

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about Apple Pay during an Apple special event at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts on September 9, 2014 in Cupertino, California.

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According to a job advertisement published on Tuesday, Apple is looking for a negotiator to partner with “alternative payment” partners.

The list, according to the listing, would include screening potential partners, negotiating and signing contracts, and launching new programs and features for the Apple Wallets, Payments and Commerce teams. It will work with Apple Pay teams too.

“Run the partnership program with key players in the Alternative Payments ecosystem, which covers the entire process of partner identification, business case development and socialization, partnership negotiation, contract signing and execution, going to market and continued growth in partnership value,” it says the job advertisement says.

As with most Apple vacancies, it doesn’t mention any specific products or partnerships that the role would work on. However, it does mention a few examples of alternative payment experiences Apple is looking for, including digital wallets, BNPL (buy now, pay later, like Affirm), fast payments, and cryptocurrency.

Apple has a built-in iPhone app for digital wallets called Wallet. When it started in 2012, it could contain digital boarding passes. Over the years, the company has expanded to include a range of financial services, including contactless Apple Pay, peer-to-peer payments, the Goldman Sachs-powered Apple Card, and loyalty rewards programs.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has publicly discussed his vision of a future with no physical money, only digital payments.

Apple hasn’t announced a feature yet that will allow iPhone users to largely accept payments other than through its peer-to-peer service. But the company thought about the idea. Last year, Apple bought Mobeewave, a startup that developed software that turned devices with NFC chips like Apple’s iPhones and iPads into payment terminals.

Apple’s interest in cryptocurrency is less clear. After Tesla invested in Bitcoin this year, some analysts suggested that Apple should offer the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrency.

But Apple executives poured cold water over the idea. In 2019, an Apple Pay executive said the company sees “long-term potential” in cryptocurrency technology but is not focused on it. Later that year, Apple CEO Tim Cook ditched the idea of ​​Apple launching its own cryptocurrency like Facebook’s Diem.

An Apple representative did not return a request for comment. The job advertisement was first reported by Coindesk.