Why Doesn’t Apple Pay Support Bitcoin?

Block CEO Jack Dorsey is placing Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner on blast for seemingly not supporting Bitcoin funds, per the app retailer’s insurance policies.

His feedback comply with Apple’s current affirmation that it might be pulling the Bitcoin-based social app, Damus, from its market.

Apple’s Crackdown On Bitcoin

Damus is a decentralized social media app for interacting with Nostr – a Bitcoin-based protocol for exchanging data and messages in a censorship-resistant method.

The app features a tipping characteristic known as “zaps” which let customers tip each other in Bitcoin over the lightning community. The worth trade is completely peer-to-peer, and Damus takes no reduce from such transactions.

However, the characteristic ran afoul of Apple’s phrases of service two weeks in the past. The corporate mentioned that it might permit for non-obligatory ideas and donations, however not for funds that had been required in trade for digital content material. “They need to use in-app buy in accordance with guideline 3.1.1,” mentioned the corporate.

Damus refused to take away this performance from its app, and tried to clarify that zaps didn’t “unlock” any digital content material for customers. Nonetheless, it received the identical message from Apple once more on Monday, and accepted that its elimination from the app retailer was imminent.

“Their steered repair is to make use of apple pay,” tweeted Damus on Tuesday. “Certain, I’ll use apple pay when it helps censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer funds to anybody on the planet. Perhaps begin with peer-to-peer first?”

Jack Dorsey Responds

Jack Dorsey was fast to defend Damus on Monday upon listening to the information. “Suggestions aren’t unlocking content material,” he said, rehashing the corporate’s personal arguments.

He adopted up on Tuesday by calling out Apple’s CEO particularly:

Why doesn’t Apple Pay assist bitcoin @tim_cook? https://t.co/2TfqzgXUP1

— jack (@jack) June 27, 2023

“Faraway from the App Retailer for enabling tipping to everybody on the planet with out the necessity for a financial institution, fee card, or authorities permission,” he added.

Dorsey has beforehand praised Nostr for being one among two “actually censorship resistant applied sciences at scale” – alongside Bitcoin itself. Whereas nonetheless the CEO of Twitter, Dorsey helped allow a tipping characteristic on the platform that included Bitcoin lightning ideas much like these utilized by Nostr.

Tim Cook dinner hasn’t proven curiosity in placing Bitcoin on Apple’s steadiness sheet however has confirmed that he personally owns some cash.