Apple’s App Store ensures it gets a cut of NFT purchases

Apple, one of the internet’s biggest tollbooths, wants to make sure they get their cut of NFT purchases made on the App Store.

The company adjusted its App Store Rules around cryptocurrency and NFT services listed on the platform this week, making it clear that users must purchase NFTs through Apple’s in-app payment system. The new rules clarify app makers can allow users to view, list, create or transfer NFTs, but prohibit them from unlocking additional features or functionality on the app, which some suggest could be used as a solution to Apple’s payment system. More importantly, the rules prohibit app makers from using features, such as links, to draw users to non-Apple payment methods.

“The apps cannot contain buttons, external links or other calls to action that direct customers to purchase mechanisms other than in-app purchases,” the new rules state.

Apple’s apparent reasoning for the language adjustment here seems pretty straightforward. The company usually receives a commission of 30% – even if it is lowered to 15% for smaller users – on all transactions made through the platform. In the past, and in front of Congress, Apple has argued that these commissions are necessary to retain and maintain safety and security on their platforms. Developers like Epic and Spotify and a growing chorus of legislators around the world have called nonsense on that argument and filed lawsuit and proposal for law accusing the company of monopolistic practices.

The news of Apple’s NFT changes ruffled more than a few feathers among developers and the web3 promoters.

Others, like Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who are led lawsuit against Apple’s app store practices in the past, likened the new rules to a cash register.

“For cryptocurrency enthusiasts, this means that Apple is now adding a 30% tax to your so-called ‘true ownership’ of digital goods,” Sweeney wrote on Twitter. “To critics of cryptocurrency, this shows that Apple’s motivations are purely monetary. For digital goods, they support NFTs they tax, and ban NFTs they don’t tax.”

“It’s quite shocking that Apple, in the face of antitrust lawsuits and sharply increased legislative and regulatory scrutiny, is doubling down on brazen monopoly rent-seeking,” Sweeney added.

Apple did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.

Apple’s NFT rules will only add insult to injury to a rattled NFT ecosystem that has seen its trading volume drop radically compared to 2021 highs due to shell-shocked cryptocurrency prices and a shaky economy in general. An analysis conducted last month by Bloomberg found that NFT trading volume had fallen 97% from a record high in January this year.

Apple’s new rules were relatively more lax when it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges. The company clarified that apps can “facilitate transactions or transfers of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange,” as long as those services are only offered in regions or countries where that app has appropriate licenses. The latest addition, like TechCrunch notesmeans Apple now potentially has cover to remove certain crypto exchanges from local App Stores if they believe those exchanges are operating illegally.