Coinbase Disables iOS Wallet’s NFT Trading Due to Apple’s App Policies
- Coinbase said that Apple had blocked the release of the latest iOS version of its mobile wallet app until NFT trading functionality was disabled.
- The exchange also claimed that Apple wanted all gas fees required to send NFTs to be paid through its In-App Purchase system so that it could collect 30% of the fees.
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Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was forced to disable non-fungible token (NFT) trading on its iOS self-custody wallet app due to interference from Apple, the company said via Twitter on 1 December.
According to the Twitter thread, the tech giant had blocked the release of the latest iOS version of Coinbase Wallet until the NFT trading functionality was disabled. The exchange claimed that Apple was demanding that the gas fees needed to transfer NFTs were paid through its proprietary In-App Purchase system, which collects a 30% fee on any transaction. Coinbase wrote:
“This is akin to Apple trying to take a cut of fees for every email that gets sent over open Internet protocols. The biggest impact from this policy change is on iPhone users that own NFTs – if you hold an NFT in a wallet on an iPhone, Apple just made it a lot harder to transfer that NFT to other wallets, or gift it to friends or family.”
Coinbase also pointed out that it could not comply with Apple’s demands even if it wanted to, seeing as its proprietary In-App Purchase system did not support cryptocurrencies. The exchange accused Apple of introducing “new policies to protect their profits at the expense of consumer investment in NFTs”.
Apple has never officially banned applications from offering in-app NFT minting, buying, or selling, but its rules make it almost impossible. Back in October, the company officially refused to exempt NFT trading from its 30% fee policy, which has kept NFT marketplaces like OpenSea from offering NFT trading within their mobile apps.
Coinbase and the wider NFT community are not the only ones who seem to have a problem with the tech giant’s policy. Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk also questioned Apple’s 30% in-app fee recently, and claimed the tech giant had threatened to remove Twitter from its App Store. Earlier today, Musk revealed that he had a conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook, and that the misunderstanding had been resolved.
- A little over $13 million in altcoins were sent to crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase in the past 24 hours, which is in accordance with a September court order.
- The court ordered a phased liquidation process, which allows the bankruptcy estate to sell $3.4 billion worth of digital assets over a certain period of time.
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- Coinbase’s Base blockchain was made available to the public on Wednesday, featuring over 100 dApps and services as part of its ecosystem.
- In order to show its capabilities and promote its mainnet partners, Base has also launched an event called “Onchain Summer” that will allow users to mint exclusive NFTs on the network.
- During an interview with FT, CEO Brian Armstrong said that before the lawsuit a SEC staff member had said that all crypto except BTC was security, and should be delisted.
- When asked how he came to that conclusion, the SEC staff member reportedly said “we’re not going to explain it to you, you need to delist every asset other that Bitcoin”.