Bitcoin News and Finance
US Representatives Bilirakis and Schakowsky Inquire About Apple’s Policies on Blockchain and NFTs Skip to main content

US Representatives Bilirakis and Schakowsky Inquire About Apple’s Policies on Blockchain and NFTs

US Representatives Bilirakis and Schakowsky Inquire About Apple's Policies on Blockchain and NFTs

Representatives Gus Bilirakis and Jan Schakowsky, part of the House Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee, have sent a letter to Apple requiring information and documents regarding Apple’s iOS Appstore policies on blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and distributed ledger technologies. The representatives believe Apple’s policies might “limit innovation and American technology leadership” in these areas.

Bilirakis and Schakowsky Inquire About Apple’s Blockchain Policies

Representatives Gus Bilirakis and Jan Schakowsky have sent a letter to Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, requiring information about the rules on the iOS App Store regarding emergent technologies such as blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other distributed ledger technologies.

In the letter, they express their concern about Apple’s walled garden policies’ effect on the development of apps using these tools, which might hurt innovation from American companies in this area. Furthermore, they also state Apple appears to have used “its App Store guidelines to increase its own profits and reduce the utility of apps in blockchains, NFTs, and other blockchain-related technology.”

To illustrate this point, Bilirakis and Schakowsky remember Apple’s position while enforcing its policies against Coinbase Wallet in December. At the time, Apple disabled NFT transactions in the Ios version of the app, requiring blockchain fee payments to go through their in-app purchase system to collect 30% of each transaction.

Coinbase Wallet rejected this rule due to feasibility problems. At the time, it declared:

For anyone who understands how NFTs and blockchains work, this is clearly not possible. Apple’s proprietary in-app purchase system does not support crypto so we couldn’t comply even if we tried.

This 30% cut was part of the legal battle between Apple and Epic Games when the latter tried to sidestep the payment of this fee by offering direct purchases of Fortnite’s V-bucks, the game’s official token, through means different from Apple’s system. The anti-payment steering rules issue is still being litigated.

The representatives also touched on the case of Axie Infinity, a popular play-to-earn game that had to launch a limited version of its app on Ios. This “lite” version excluded core NFT functionality and is still unavailable for U.S.-based users.

Finally, Bilirakis and Schakowsky stated:

It is essential that Congress fully understand the App Store guidelines and the extent to which these guidelines limit innovation and impact American technological leadership. We want to create a level playing field within the industry so that American ingenuity can continue to thrive.

Apple’s Tight Crypto Rules

Apple announced this set of tight blockchain rules in October, detailing that apps “may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality,” including crypto and NFTs. Also, all of the NFT sales offered by these apps might go through Apple’s in-app purchase system, so long as these don’t present “buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.”

What do you think about Apple’s blockchain and NFT policies? Tell us in the comments section below.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory