Apple Inc AAPL is purportedly blocking an Ethereum ETH/USD from its App Store because it lets users view non fungible tokens or NFTs.
What Happened: Gnosis Safe, product development head Lukas Schor made the disclosure on Twitter Tuesday.
Schor said in a Twitter thread, “Apple is blocking a release of our [Gnosis Safe] mobile app because we display NFTs in it.”
The refusal to release the app came after Gnosis Safe submitted a new version of the wallet for review two weeks ago, as per Schor.
The update included means to connect to the Ledger Nano X hardware wallet via Bluetooth, and was not NFT related, claimed Schor.
A day after the app was submitted for review, Gnosis Safe received what Schor termed a “questionable response.”
“Apple does not allow apps, especially wallets, to display NFTs if they are not bought via in-app purchases,” the product development lead revealed.
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A resubmission of the application in the hope that it would be seen by another reviewer at the Tim Cook-led company did not yield any success either.
“This shows how access to Web3 still relies heavily on gatekeepers like Apple,” Schor said, adding that Gnosis Safe plans to submit an appeal to the App Review Board.
Why It Matters: NFTs have enjoyed a surge recently with the volume of the digitalized art in August touching a record-breaking $3 billion on the OpenSea decentralized marketplace.
Going by the interaction between Apple and Gnosis Safe posed by Schor, it becomes apparent that while it is possible to purchase NFTs through an app on the iPhone maker’s marketplace, NFTs purchased elsewhere cannot be stored on such an app.
Schor claimed that this is “not just the first sign of Apple cracking down on NFTs completely.”
However, he did not provide any specific instances where Apple had taken a similar position against other NFT displaying applications.
In July, Apple told the developer of a popular Disk Operating System or DOS emulator that the app would be removed from the App Store for alleged violation of guidelines.
Last month, Apple allegedly threw “obstacle after obstacle” in the way of a popular keyboard app for blind and low-vision people.
The developer of that app said they were discontinuing the iPhone version of the keyboard as they could “no longer endure” abuse from the tech giant.
Price Action: On Tuesday, Apple shares closed nearly 1% lower at $148.12 in the regular session. At press time, ETH traded 3.31% higher at $3,406.29.
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