We recently reported on Apple’s decision to ban NFTs within apps on the App Store. Developers of certain apps used NFTs to avoid the sky-high 30% commission Apple charges on every in app purchase int. Coinbase has now also had to experience this policy from Apple. The Silicon Valley giant is now thwarting the functioning of the Coinbase Wallet app.
You might have noticed you can’t send NFTs on Coinbase Wallet iOS anymore. This is because Apple blocked our last app release until we disabled the feature. 🧵
— Coinbase Wallet (@CoinbaseWallet) December 1, 2022
30% commission from Apple
Apple takes a 30% commission on all purchases made within third-party apps that use iOS. They make no exception to this with NFT transactions. For example, apps may only facilitate NFT transactions if 30% of the gas fees go to apple. If apps do not agree to this, the app will be removed from the Apple store.
The crypto exchange Coinbase announced via Twitter that Apple has thwarted the latest release of the Coinbase Wallet app in order to earn that 30%. According to Coinbase, this is impossible in the case of NFTs.
“Anyone who knows how NFTs and blockchain works understands that this is not possible. Apple’s commission policy does not support crypto. So even if we wanted to, we cannot agree to this.”
Crypto sector not happy with Apple
The American crypto exchange is therefore lashing out at Apple’s policy. It claims that Apple wants to protect their profits at all costs, and that this is at the expense of the development of the NFT ecosystem and its users. Coinbase also announces that sending and receiving NFTs for iOS users of the app will be much more difficult until the issue is resolved.
Coinbase hopes the issue was simply overlooked by Apple and will be resolved soon. They have contacted the developers at Apple via Twitter and indicated that they want to work together on a solution.
Polygon’s current CEO, Ryan Wyatt, cites Apple’s policy ‘criminal’, and believes it thwarts the development of the entire crypto ecosystem with their financial monopoly. Elon Musk also recently expressed concern about it censorship policy from the Apple app store.