Magic Eden and other NFT Marketplaces say Apple's commission and fiat currency rules are keeping NFT companies away from the App Store.
Apple’s announcement that it will allow NFT apps on the Apple App Store — clarifying what had been a gray area for some time now — should have been great news. But there’s a catch: Apple also decided it would impose a 30% commission on sales, as well as the condition that all transactions must take place in-app in fiat currency.
Non-Fungible Token (NFT) marketplaces are under much greater regulatory scrutiny these days and subject to actions from lawmakers, and this development sets up a battle with a giant corporate rule maker in the tech world.
Many NFT companies reacted to the news by saying they will not be releasing products on the App Store. Speaking to The Information, Magic Eden Co-Founder Sidney Zhang said they have never enabled buying and selling on its mobile app due to the high commission taken by Apple.
Magic Eden, which is Solana’s leading NFT marketplace, said it will withdraw its app from the App store after the Apple commission was announced. Since then, Apple has said it will lower its commission to 15% for smaller NFT marketplaces. Other Web3 leaders like Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney have said Apple’s plans will kill the NFT app business.
Now Apple is killing all NFT app businesses it can’t tax, crushing another nascent technology that could rival its grotesquely overpriced in-app payment service. Apple must be stopped. https://t.co/4KChp6jtFZ
The decision to impose a 30% commission on all transactions was roundly criticized by the NFT community. NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and Magic Eden take a commission of no more than 2.5-5%. Given the downturn in NFT prices, the 30% commission is seen by project and game owners as an imposition of Web2 practices in the Web3 space.
Some like Gabriel Leydon, CEO of Limit Break, have welcomed the decision by Apple, saying it could help bring the digital assets and Web3 wallets to millions of Apple users around the world.
Apple has decided to let developers sell NFTs inside of games/apps. Everyone is focusing on apple wanting its 30% cut of each transaction without realizing this could put an ETH wallet in every single mobile game onboarding 1B+ players! https://t.co/BPJj3gD5r2
In a bear market where NFT prices have tanked, adding even a 15% charge to NFT sales seems completely unpalatable Web3 players. Will the draw of Apple’s huge user base be enough to overcome it?
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Buy Crypto with a bank transfer, credit or debit card, P2P exchange, and more. Not investment advice. All trading risk. Terms apply.
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Buy Crypto with a bank transfer, credit or debit card, P2P exchange, and more. Not investment advice. All trading risk. Terms apply.
