Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shared his company’s struggle with Apple’s App Store restrictions. Coinbase joins a list of other mega companies which are struggling their way.
In the wake of other companies struggling with Apple’s App Store restrictions, I want to share a bit about Coinbase’s own struggle here, Armstrong said in a tweet thread.
Many companies are reluctant to speak out on these topics for fear of retaliation, but I feel like we need to continue the dialog in the open, he added.
Furthermore, he said, We’ve tried discussing this through regular channels with Apple, and I reached out directly to leadership to request a dialog, but we seem to be at a dead end.
Highlighting the issue, he mentioned, Here is the issue. Apple has told us we cannot add the following functionality in our iOS apps: (1) the ability to earn money using cryptocurrency and (2) the ability to access decentralized finance apps (sometimes called DeFi apps or Dapps).
Why would Apple want to prevent people from earning money during a recession? They seem to not be ok with it, if it uses cryptocurrency. I’m not sure why. This is what our Coinbase Earn product does.
We sometimes end up in bizarre negotiations with them, modifying the product, and asking users to jump through hoops (do a task on mobile, then move to the web to claim your reward!) to comply with their guidelines. This creates a worse experience for Apple and Coinbase customers
In addition to earning, they have told us that we cannot provide a list of decentralized apps (which are really just websites) to users on iOS.
