Apple Softens Their Stance On Crypto

When most people think about Apple and all of the ways it makes money, they think of the flashy iPhones, Macs, and other gadgets.

What most don’t realize though is that Apple makes a huge percentage of their total revenue – perhaps more than 20% – from the App Store. The total amount is unknown as Apple has gone to great lengths to hide the exact number.

Apple knows they wield great power through the App Store, and they’ve used this power to make tens of billions of dollars in yearly revenue, mainly from the infamous 30% cut of all in-app purchases (which tech companies such as Epic Games have tried and failed to get rid of).

Unfortunately for us crypto enthusiasts, they’ve also used this power to arbitrarily keep web3 apps out of the App Store. This was confirmed by former App Store director Phillip Shoemaker, as he stated that “Apple had a problem with crypto from day one. They thought it was a Ponzi scheme”.

This harsh attitude toward crypto has been apparent throughout the last decade:

• Coinbase was banned from the App Store for an entire year

• Last December, Apple severely limited how NFTs could be used in apps

• Apple blocked the Coinbase Wallet app because they wanted to collect 30% on any gas fees accrued by NFT transfers, which is an impossible ask

But, for whatever reason, it appears the tide is turning with Apple after making two major crypto App Store moves in the last week.

1. First, they allowed the blockchain game Axie Infinity to launch their Axie Infinity: Origins card game on the App Store in a select number of countries across Latin America and Asia in anticipation of an eventual global release.

2. Next, they allowed users of the crypto fitness app Stepn to trade their Stepn NFTs without having to leave the app or use an external marketplace.

Although both apps will still have to pay Apple’s crushing 30% tax, this is undoubtedly great news for the industry. Stepn COO Shiti Manghani even believes this is the biggest thing currently happening in crypto.

The reason is simple: mainstream adoption.

Phones account for more web traffic than desktops, and the App Store is one of the world’s most popular application marketplaces. If crypto, the supposed currency of the internet, is to truly take off, it needs to capture this market.

These developments, combined with the freeing of the Uniswap mobile wallet last month, are huge steps in the right direction.