Coinbase complains to Apple over gas-fee commission for NFT transfers

The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has disabled NFT transfers in its Coinbase Wallet app on iOS after Apple demanded a 30% commission on gas fees.

You might have noticed you can’t send NFTs on Coinbase Wallet iOS anymore. This is because Apple blocked our last app release until we disabled the feature. 🧵

— Coinbase Wallet (@CoinbaseWallet) December 1, 2022

The platform team said the tech giant blocked the latest Coinbase Wallet release until the feature was disabled.

‘Apple asserts that the gas required to send NFTs must be paid through their In-App Purchase system so that they can take a 30% commission on the fee,’ Coinbase wrote.

The exchange called it untenable, criticised Apple’s system and said it would not have been able to comply, even if it tried.

‘The greatest impact of this change will be on iPhone users who own NFTs. … Apple has simply made the process of moving them to other wallets or gifting them to friends or family significantly more complicated,’ the statement said.

Coinbase said this could be an Apple error and urged talks.

MetaMask co-founder and former Apple employee Dan Finlay criticised the tech giant for ‘abuse of monopoly’.

“Oh, I’ll absolutely stand in solidarity here. I assume MetaMask and every other wallet are next. I’m ready to dump the Apple ecosystem. The 30% fee is an abuse of monopoly. Big Brother has donned the Big Brother screen,” he wrote.

Oh I’ll absolutely stand in solidarity here, I assume MM and every other wallet is next. I’m ready to dump the Apple ecosystem. The 30% tax is an abuse of monopoly. @tim_cook has donned the Big Brother screen. https://t.co/tzcA0Ol658

— Dan Finlay 🦊💙 (@danfinlay) December 1, 2022

Earlier in September, media reported Apple’s approval of selling NFTs in apps in the App Store.

In October, the tech giant forced developers to exclude the use of non-fungible tokens that do not provide the ability to charge a fee on transactions (up to 30%).

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