Coinbase Disables Mobile NFT Transfers Due to Apple’s App Store Policies

Azalea.

Dec 2, 2022•2 min read

Coinbase Disables Mobile NFT Transfers Due to Apple’s App Store Policies

On October 25, 2022, Apple dropped a new App Store policy that formally allows In-App Purchase of NFTs on its platform, and additionally, requires a 30% transaction fee that has been called a de facto ban on these sales.

Apple’s fee policies are considered to be a dealbreaker that keeps marketplaces and creators away from its ecosystem and sometimes leads them to abandon NFT integrations outright.

Recently, crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) has disabled NFT transfers on its iOS wallet app. This is reported to be the exchange's response to Apple's In-App Purchase policy on NFT transactions.

Coinbase's notice after disabling the NFT transfer feature on its mobile app.

On December 1, 2022, Coinbase tweeted about the situation:

"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."

According to the team behind Coinbase, for anyone who understands how NFTs and blockchains work, this policy is clearly impossible for crypto-based organizations.

"Apple’s proprietary In-App Purchase system does not support crypto, so we couldn’t comply even if we tried.”

This controversy is the latest update on the months-long discussion between Apple and the NFT community.

Until further notice, Apple has not yet responded to the request for comment on this action from Coinbase.

Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase - Paul Grewel also expressed his point of view, that people should definitely ask for the reason behind the scenes, when rules that can not be followed are imposed.

Coinbase’s Apple feud comes right after new Twitter owner - Elon Musk questioned the same issue on the 30% in-app fee policy, and after Elon Musk claimed that Apple had threatened to remove Twitter from its app store. This is quoted 'a misunderstanding' by Musk not long later, but left the community with curiosity about what is actually going on between these tech giants.

Updates will be on GameFi.org news when there is a further notice from both sides involved in this saga.

Explore: Coinbase Wallet Supported on GameFi.org.

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