Coinbase CEO Says Apple's Crypto Unfriendly Rules Stir 'Antitrust Issues'

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is upset with the rather sour way Apple is approaching the crypto sphere. Speaking recently on a podcast, Armstrong said that the rules of Apple's App Store currently do not allow a bunch of features offered by crypto apps such as Coinbase itself. Highlighting the unfair treatment, Armstrong has called Apple's resilience towards crypto-centric apps a trigger point for “potential antitrust issues”. The cryptopreneur also said that smartphone-makers must already start to get prepared to build crypto-specific hardware features on their devices.

Armstrong was speaking on the podcast with Indian YouTuber Tanmay Bhatt during his recent visit to India. The Coinbase CEO, along with other senior members of his team, had met start-up founders, content creators, and others from India's crypto community earlier this month.

“Apple so far has not really played nice with crypto, they've actually banned a bunch of features that we would like to have in the app, but they just won't allow it — so there's potential antitrust issues there,” the 39-year-old Coinbase chief said in the episode, that was aired recently.

While Apple has not reacted to Armstrong's views as yet, the company has indeed maintained a distance from the crypto industry despite several other tech players jumping on the Web3-wagon.

In October last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook had said that the iPhone-making tech mammoth was not looking to integrate cryptocurrencies or related features with its products or services anytime soon.

At the time, the 61-year-old tech mogul had also revealed that he himself, is a crypto-holder], but Apple has nothing to do with his personal investment choices.

Presently, Apple Pay does not support cryptocurrency transactions. iPhones and other Apple products are not being sold for crypto gains, and as pointed out by Armstrong, Apple App Store is also resistant against supporting crypto apps. Crypto wallet apps, however, are available on the App Store.

Cook had however said, the crypto space is definitely something that the company is looking at and analysing.

In September 2019, Jennifer Bailey, the Vice President of Apple Pay had reportedly revealed that the iPhone-maker is being attentive towards the crypto space and sees cryptocurrencies as assets with “interesting long-term potential”.

Meanwhile, Armstrong has expressed disappointment at Apple for hampering the potential of Coinbase products.