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Coinbase has an 'NFT complain' with Apple

Leading crypto exchange Coinbase has accused iPhone maker Apple of forcing it to remove NFT (non-fungible token) transfers from its iOS Wallet application. The company posted a series of tweets accusing Apple of blocking its NFT transfers.

"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," tweeted Coinbase Wallet. "Apple’s claim is that the gas fees required to send NFTs need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system, so that they can collect 30% of the gas fee," goes the next tweet.

"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," read the following tweet. "This is akin to Apple trying to take a cut of fees for every email that gets sent over open Internet protocols," added Coinbase Wallet.

Coin Wallet stressed that the move will hurt iPhone users as Apple has made it very tough to transfer NFTs. "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," said the next tweet.

"Simply put, Apple has introduced new policies to protect their profits at the expense of consumer investment in NFTs and developer innovation across the crypto ecosystem," the company added.

"We hope this is an oversight on Apple’s behalf and an inflection point for further conversations with the ecosystem. @apple - we’re here and want to help," reads the concluding tweet fron Coinbase Wallet.

Update to Apple App Store policy
Apple updated its App Store review guidelines in October this year. The new guidelines specifically address NFTs under section 3.1.1 In-App Purchase:

Apps may use in-app purchase to sell and sell services related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), such as minting, listing, and transferring. Apps may allow users to view their own NFTs, provided that NFT ownership does not unlock features or functionality within the app. Apps may allow users to browse NFT collections owned by others, provided that the apps may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.

Coinbase hopeful
Coinbase says that it is hopeful that this is all just an oversight and that the company will be able to straighten things out with Apple.

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