Coinbase Wallet said that it had to block NFT transfers on iOS because Apple required that gas fees for NFT transfers be paid through in-app purchases.
Once again, Apple’s demand for fees is making bad news in the cryptocurrency world. On December 1, Coinbase said in a tweet that NFT transfers on the Coinbase Wallet app for iOS devices were blocked. “The gas fees needed to send NFTs need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system,” the reason given.
If Coinbase did this, it would be paying Apple’s famous “Apple tax,” which is 30% of Ethereum gas fees. Coinbase said this wasn’t possible because its In-App Purchase system didn’t work with cryptocurrencies. Even if the exchange tried, it couldn’t do what was asked.
Coinbase doesn’t like Apple’s policy very much. The exchange compared the policy to try to get a cut of the fees for emails sent over open Internet protocols. It said, “…if you have an NFT in a wallet on an iPhone, Apple just made it a lot harder to move that NFT to other wallets or give it to friends or family.” Simply put, Apple has made new rules to protect their profits at the expense of consumer investments in NFTs and developer innovation across the crypto ecosystem.
But the exchange says that it hopes for a solution and tells Apple that it wants to help. Given how stubborn they are about these rules, this isn’t likely to happen.
