The MCX Merchant group has essentially confirmed what most insiders already knew: That it has an exclusivity clause for members to only accept mobile payments from its own payments platform.

As NFC Times reported nearly two years ago, MCX asked its members–which include some of the largest retail chains in the U.S., such as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Gap Inc.–to sign the clause in order to join. Some sources have said the clause binds the members for three years. 

MCX, which announced its mobile-commerce platform, CurrentC, in September, in the run up to the launch of Apple Pay, now has been forced to respond to criticism that two of its members, retail pharmacies, Rite Aid and CVS, have disabled their contactless point-of-sale terminals to block Apple Pay. This also blocks other NFC-enabled wallets, such as Softcard and Google Wallet.