Coinbase Disables Mobile NFT Transfers Citing Apple’s App Store Policies – Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN)

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase COIN has ceased non-fungible token (NFT) transfers on its iOS wallet app, blaming Apple AAPL due to its strict new restrictions regarding NFTs.

Using Apple software to pay its gas fees would subject such revenues to Apple’s 30% app tax, according to Coinbase.

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“Apple has introduced new policies to protect their profits at the expense of consumer investment in NFTs and developer innovation across the crypto ecosystem,” Coinbase stated.

“For anyone who understands how NFTs and blockchains work, this is clearly not possible. Apple’s proprietary In-App Purchase system does not support crypto, so we couldn’t comply even if we tried,” it added.

The company further said it was akin to Apple trying to take a cut of fees for every email that gets sent over open Internet protocols.

The conflict over gas fees between Apple and the NFT community has been going on for several months. NFT trading has been prohibited from being offered by marketplaces like OpenSea within its mobile app as a result of Apple’s formal refusal to waive its 30% App Store fee in October.

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, in response to Coinbase’s decision, said, “When someone imposes rules that can’t be followed, you should ask why. We are.”

Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, has criticized Coinbase’s 30% in-app charge policy and claims that Apple has threatened to ban Twitter from its app store, which has sparked a dispute between the two companies.

Apple has not commented on the issue as yet.

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