An important digital currency company has joined others in developing the use of NFC technology to promote the use of Bitcoin.

On January 6th, 2015, Sean Neville, the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of the digital wallet and payment platform Circle, announced on the company blog that “Circle now supports touchless mobile payments”. The reason for that development is a “continuing effort to make sending money as simple as possible”. This is done through the Circle Android application and NFC (Near-Field Communication) technology.

It means that Circle joins the club of digital currency companies that try to make payment in virtual currency easier for customers. Currently, paying in Bitcoin might be tricky and complicated because of QR codes and long waiting times. The use of NFC technology might make it easier for customers who will simply need to bring their smartphone in contact with the point-of-sale terminal.

The NFC technology is already widely in use: in Europe, there are already more than 100 million contactless payment cards in circulation. According to Juniper Research, cited by Neville, “more than half a billion people around the world will use NFC-enabled transactions by 2019”. It means that those who wish to promote the use of bitcoin must satisfy the growing requirements of the public. It is the only way to make Mr. Everyman a Bitcoin user.

The road to perfection is complicated because existing mobile applications are not necessarily compatible with the shopping terminals. Besides, these applications can be used only on Android, because Apple, which has recently rolled out its own Apple Pay service in the US, currently blocks developer access to the NFC chips in the latest iPhone models.