#AppleCryptoUpdate Here's a breakdown of the key updates:
US Court Ruling Forces Apple to Ease Restrictions: A major driver behind the recent activity is a U.S. federal court ruling (stemming from the Epic Games lawsuit) which found Apple in violation of a previous injunction. This ruling mandates that Apple can no longer prohibit developers from including buttons or external links within their apps that direct users to alternative purchasing methods outside of the App Store.
Impact on Crypto and NFT Apps: This decision is particularly impactful for cryptocurrency and NFT-related applications. Previously, these apps were significantly restricted and often had to remove features or direct users to websites to avoid Apple's standard 30% in-app purchase commission. With the updated policy in the U.S. App Store, developers can now directly link users to external platforms for buying, selling, or trading NFTs and processing other crypto payments, bypassing Apple's fees.
Apple Updates App Store Guidelines: Following the court order, Apple has updated its U.S. App Store guidelines to comply with the ruling, permitting external links for purchases. This change has been widely seen by the crypto community as a major step towards greater integration and adoption of crypto and Web3 technologies on iOS devices.
Industry Reaction: The crypto industry has largely reacted positively to this news, considering it a "hugely bullish development for mobile crypto games, decentralized finance (DeFi), and NFTs. It is expected to improve the user experience for crypto apps by removing friction associated with external transactions
Apple Pay Integration (Separate Development): Around the same time as the policy change, a crypto payments network called Mesh announced an integration with Apple Pay. This allows users to potentially use Apple Pay to spend cryptocurrency, with merchants receiving stablecoins. While related to Apple and crypto payments, this appears to be a separate partnership rather than a direct result of the court ruling
Limitations and Future: It's important to note that