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title: Apple Pay vs The MCX and Its CurrentC App | TIME
description: CurrentC is the the merchant-led group’s answer to Apple Pay, but MCX is having trouble keeping its app from disappearing in Apple Pay’s shadow.
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# Apple Pay vs The MCX and Its CurrentC App

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eOMSgAkV.m3u8" -->
## Video: Apple Pay vs The MCX and Its CurrentC App

[Watch (HLS stream): Apple Pay vs The MCX and Its CurrentC App](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eOMSgAkV.m3u8) (1:44)

![Apple Pay vs The MCX and Its CurrentC App](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/eOMSgAkV/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2015-05-11. CurrentC is the the merchant-led group’s answer to Apple Pay, but MCX is having trouble keeping its app from disappearing in Apple Pay’s shadow._


---

Jul 27, 2023 6:14 PM UTC

---

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[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

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### Apple Pay: 16 Brands Apple Needs to Win Over

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### Apple Pay Starts Monday

[Apple Pay Could Be A ‘Game Changer’ for Apple’s Business](/video/KeRu70vl/)

### Apple Pay Could Be A ‘Game Changer’ for Apple’s Business

---


## Transcript

Apple Pay is everywhere and seems to only be expanding. In January, CEO Tim Cook proudly announced that out of every three dollars spent using contactless payments, two dollars was spent using Apple Pay. That creates a big problem for merchant customer exchange or MCX as well as it's unreleased app, CurrentC. CurrentC is the merchant- led group's answer to Apple Pay. [ MUSIC ] And it's the reason some of the country's largest retailers aren't accepting Apple's payment system. Perhaps the largest on that list is Walmart. Walmart was one of the founding member retailers when then merchant customer exchange was created back in 2012.

While MCX's website will tell you the currency app is about streamlining the customer experience. Most outlets say CurrenC's real purpose is to help retailers across the country dodge fees from credit card companies, But, MCX is having trouble keeping CurrenC from disappearing in Apple Pay's shadow. In late April, Best Buy announced it would start accepting Apple Pay in stores, even though it's still a member of the merchant customer exchange. To make matters worse, Apple Pay is partnered with the very credit card company, CurrentC, meant to fight, giving credit card companies another leg up on retailers.

As it stands, CurrentC is not available nationwide. The money points out that even when the app is ready, big companies like Walmart could have trouble getting other retailers on board. It may simply be too difficult to corral enough Competing merchants into a coherent, cooperative group. Specially when one of those merchants, WalMart, pose an existential threat to the others. Luckily, for WalMart and others invested in currency success, US retailers have been slow to adopt the near field communication devices needed for Apple Pay to work. According to Computer World, the number of NFC ready terminals hovers at less than 10 percent.

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