Buying crypto through self-custody wallets has often involved multiple steps and awkward handoffs between apps and payment pages. Tangem and Mercuryo are aiming to remove that friction by bringing Apple Pay directly into the wallet experience, allowing users to purchase digital assets with a single biometric confirmation while keeping full control of their private keys from the outset.
Global digital payment infrastructure platform Mercuryo has announced the successful integration of its native Apple Pay processing capabilities into Tangem, the Swiss-based manufacturer of self-custodial hardware wallets. The technical deployment allows iPhone users to execute fiat-to-crypto on-ramp transactions directly inside the native Tangem mobile application using biometric authentication (Face ID or Touch ID). By utilising an in-app payment sheet, the collaboration systematically eliminates external browser redirects that have traditionally complicated self-custodial web3 transactions.
The structural upgrade directly addresses on-ramp friction, a primary driver of cart abandonment and customer drop-off within the decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Historically, purchasing digital assets via a hardware wallet required users to click a purchase button, navigate to a third-party web browser, manually enter credit or debit card details into an external interface, and then return to the wallet app to verify delivery. The new architecture embeds Mercuryo’s payment gateway into Tangem’s user interface (UI), enabling the secure, immediate routing of purchased crypto assets directly to the user’s hard-encoded Tangem wallet address upon biometric confirmation.
Arthur Firstov, Chief Business Officer at Mercuryo, noted that self-custody solutions have historically demanded more complex operational workflows at the point of sale than centralised exchange counters. Firstov stated that this native integration bridges that usability gap, supplying hardware wallet holders with the frictionless checkout experience typical of standard Web2 e-commerce platforms. Marcos Nunes, Head of Tangem Pay, added that the update allows users to maintain absolute sovereignty over their private keys from their very first transaction without sacrificing speed. The native Apple Pay on-ramp feature is live immediately for all Tangem iOS users via an App Store update. Android users can continue utilising Mercuryo’s standard open banking and credit card payment rails.
What this means for the industry
- Self-custody is becoming easier to use as wallet providers adopt payment experiences that resemble mainstream e-commerce and banking apps.
- Reducing checkout friction could improve crypto adoption, addressing one of the biggest causes of transaction abandonment during fiat-to-crypto purchases.
- Hardware wallets are competing on user experience, not just security, with seamless onboarding becoming a key differentiator.
- Embedded payments are moving deeper into Web3, bringing Apple Pay, open banking and traditional payment rails directly inside crypto applications.
- The gap between centralised exchanges and self-custody platforms is narrowing, allowing users to maintain control of their assets without sacrificing convenience.
- Mobile-first crypto experiences are gaining momentum, signalling a broader shift toward making digital asset ownership accessible to less technical consumers.
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