Coinbase CEO: Apple Forces to Change Crypto Products

CEO of the American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Brian Armstrong believes that Apple is not bringing innovations to the cryptocurrency and removing DeFi in the second place. In addition, Armstrong added that Apple will continue to block certain functions for cryptocurrency developers.

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.

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) September 11, 2020

By his words, other cryptocurrency companies "are not inappropriately displayed on this theme because of the fear of retaliation." Armstrong feels the need to speak out since Coinbase has run out of resources for a dialogue with Apple and has gone to a "dead end." As the CEO declared, Apple informed the Coinbase community about prohibiting the addition of two specific functions in its application for iOS, and it is also possible to earn money with the help of crypto to make it more efficient and to optimize.

The first limitation was that Coinbase wanted to change its application in such a way that it was significantly less convenient for the user. Brian Armstrong declared that these restrictions are important for the users of the cryptocurrency:

“Why should Apple prevent people from earning money during the recession? It means not everything is good with them, if they use a cryptocurrency.”

Due to the requirements of the American technician manufacturer, the user of the application on iOS now lacks certain functions. And this did not happen because of the inaction of the developers, but because of Apple's censorship.

In addition, Apple has forbidden Coinbase to provide users with a list of DeFi applications, which "are, in fact, just sites." Apple has motivated its decision that the Coinbase application allows you to transfer cryptocurrency in a way that is not available in the framework of the program.

Noting that access to dApps and DeFi can be accessed through a browser on any smartphone, Armstrong said that Apple's decision would eliminate "conflict of interests." And although these limits are "intended to protect customers, even as they protect Apple from the competition."

When a customer uses the App Store instead of dApps and makes purchases in In-App Purchases instead of cryptocurrency cards, Apple repeats the mistakes of Microsoft.

Potential technology

Despite the fact that earlier Apple Pay Vice-President Jennifer Bailey admitted that the company is following the development of cryptocurrencies, because "the technology has far-reaching prospects", the American giant still has an ambiguous policy of placing not only crypto applications but also games in the App Store.

The policy is so ambiguous that lawsuits have already been filed against the company from one of the largest game publishers Epic Games, and the Telegram messenger filed a complaint with the European Commission, accusing the App Store of "non-competitive working conditions."

However, it does not seem that the dissatisfaction of the consumer market greatly worries Apple's management, given the fact that the company's market capitalization recently stepped over the $2 trillion market cap with a share price of $497.48.

Apple’s responsibility

Armstrong declared that during the time of the crisis with the coronavirus, people who did not have access to banking services faced even greater difficulties when they were able to access it. Armstrong also declared that the responsibility for this remains with Apple. Apple has come to stop keeping innovations in the cryptocurrency. He also said that he would like to work productively on this together with the company.

Armstrong argues that Apple’s monopoly in the US smartphone and tablet market has long remained hostile to any cryptocurrency-related applications. Coinbase is reportedly planning to send Apple an official request for App Store policy changes.

Image courtesy of Invezz