NFT transactions are no longer supported by Coinbase's Wallet iOS app as a result of Apple's rigorous new NFT restrictions, which were revealed in October.
"You may have noticed that NFTs can no longer be sent on the iOS version of Coinbase Wallet. This is due to Apple preventing our most recent app release until we turned off the feature, the Coinbase Wallet account tweeted on Thursday.
NFTs are subject to a steep 30% transaction tax on Apple's mobile app store, even if they aren't officially forbidden. Developers will have their apps removed from the store if they are unable to comply with that criterion.
According to Coinbase, Apple wants to charge a 30% fee on any gas fees (i.e., fees associated with Ethereum network transactions) associated with NFT transfers carried out through the wallet app, but Coinbase claims that this is "impossible."
This is obviously not conceivable, according to anyone who is familiar with how blockchains and NFTs operate, according to Coinbase. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't comply because Apple's proprietary In-App Purchase mechanism doesn't handle cryptocurrency.
On the Ethereum network, users are required to pay a cost known as gas for each transaction they complete, even if they are just moving an asset like an NFT to a different wallet. The network cannot function without these fees. However, they are more intricate than a flat rate and are not under the jurisdiction of a single organization.
The cost of gas, which is measured in gwei but paid for in ETH, varies according to the activity on the Ethereum network and the effectiveness of a smart contract's code. Additionally, more experienced users can choose to pay more to move their transaction up the list.
These limitations on its mobile application have angered Coinbase, which compares Apple's action to "Apple trying to take a cut of fees for every email that gets sent over open Internet protocols."
Many proponents of cryptocurrencies are outraged by Apple's contentious in-app purchase fee, including Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, who previously filed a lawsuit to challenge Apple's policies and declared that the tech giant "must be stopped."
Ryan Wyatt, a former executive at YouTube and the current CEO of Polygon Studios, has adopted a similar approach and has called Apple's 30% tax "criminal." According to Wyatt, the tax's monopoly on the sector will "forever hold back technical advancement."
Elon Musk, the wealthy CEO of Twitter, has already expressed anxiety that Apple would remove Twitter from its store, thus he is also not exempt from its censorship (Musk then met with Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday, and Cook apparently dispelled those concerns).
Coinbase expressed the expectation that this choice was perhaps "an oversight" and that it can be further examined. Additionally, it thinks that Apple's stringent NFT fee policy will make it more challenging for NFTs to gain widespread adoption and will make it more difficult for users to transfer their assets.
At the expense of customer investment in NFTs and developer innovation throughout the crypto ecosystem, Apple has implemented new regulations to safeguard corporate revenues, according to Coinbase.
Crypto aficionados on Twitter today criticized Apple's limitations, but others highlighted the possibilities of Solana's Saga phone, a mobile device that is Web3-native and will not have such limitations. This device is still under development. Its anticipated release date right now is early in the following year.
According to Solana's Head of Communications Austin Federa, "Today it was Apple, but tomorrow it could be Google." "We require a third choice."
Coinbase says Apple is demanding 30% cut of NFT gas fees before allowing digital wallet update
On Thursday, Apple announced that it would not allow its iOS digital wallet to receive the newest version until the cryptocurrency exchange shared 30% of the gas fees from NFT sales or turned off the ability to send them.
According to Coinbase, Apple wants gas prices to be paid using a mechanism that deducts 30% from all in-app purchases made for software running on Apple devices. However, a tweet from the Coinbase Wallet Twitter account asserts that this isn't even feasible, likening it to Apple wanting to charge for each internet-based email sent. Apple typically levies a 30% fee for any app purchased through its app store as well as for any in-app purchases made, like purchasing extra lives for Candy Crush or a skin for Minecraft.
The Coinbase Wallet Twitter account tweeted on Thursday that "Apple's proprietary In-App Purchase system does not support crypto so we couldn't comply even if we tried." The biggest impact of this policy change will be felt by iPhone users who own NFTs, according to another tweet from the account, which stated: "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."
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, added his two cents.
"Good illustration of the types of conversations we have with Apple on a monthly basis to address their monopoly on the app store. It has occasionally become very ludicrous," he tweeted on Thursday.
The conflict between Apple and Coinbase Wallet is the most recent example of how the tech giant's control over the apps in its ecosystem has come under fire. The company started allowing apps on its App Store to sell NFTs in September, as long as it continued to receive a 30% cut of each sale. The Google Play store for Android charges a similar 30% fee.
The CEOs of other significant internet firms, such as Twitter's Elon Musk, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, and Spotify's Daniel Ek, have all attacked Apple for its tight control over apps.
Apple didn't reply to Fortune's request for comment right away.
Prominent business figures in established online corporations and Web3 upstarts criticized the move. Tim Sweeney said in a September tweet that the tech giant "is eliminating any NFT app firms it can't tax." Tim Sweeney's company Epic Games is suing Apple in 2020 for alleged antitrust violations.
Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands, said earlier this year that Apple's plan to charge the 30% fee will scare off blockchain-based businesses, according to Web3.
Siu said at the time to Fortune, "The problem with Apple is that they charge you 30% because they're Apple, with no other explanations given.
Coinbase disables NFT transfer on iOS app, citing hefty in-app fees
In response to a disagreement over Apple's in-app purchase policy, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase stopped its non-fungible token (NFT) transfer feature for iOS users, the firm tweeted on Thursday.
Quick facts
According to Coinbase, Apple needs to collect the gas fees, which happen while transferring an NFT, through its in-app purchase mechanism so that it can charge a 30% gas fee.
The tweet from Coinbase stated, "For anyone who understands how NFTs and blockchains work, this is plainly not conceivable." Even if we wanted to, we couldn't comply because Apple's proprietary In-App Purchase mechanism doesn't handle cryptocurrency.
Apps "may use in-app purchases to sell and sell services related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), such as minting, listing, and transferring," according to a policy published by Apple in October.
The tech giant demands a 30% cut of each transaction, prompting complaints from the cryptocurrency sector about what they refer to as the onerous "Apple tax."
source: finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-disables-nft-transfer-ios-050830302.html