Apple Wants a 30% Cut of All the NFTs Sold in Its App Store
Apple updated its App Store Review Guidelines regarding NFTs. Apple believes all NFT sales are subject to the App Store's 30% fee.
On Monday, Apple updated its App Store Review Guidelines regarding NFTs. It appears that Apple believes all NFT sales are subject to the App Store's 30% fee. Additionally, apps “may not use their own mechanism to unlock content or functionality, such as license keys, augmented reality makers, QR codes, cryptocurrencies, and cryptocurrency wallets etc.” without giving Apple its 30% share of the proceeds.
Apple also wants to prevent apps from side-stepping the NFT rules by selling NFTs off-app. This is something Netflix got away with for years by allowing users to pay for a membership on the Netflix website and bring that membership onto their iPhones without paying Apple. We'll see how serious Apple is about enforcing its App Store NFT rules when apps come up with clever new ways to distribute NFTs without paying Apple.
Apple's App Store doesn't support crypto, so all NFT mints and purchases performed in App Store apps will have to happen in fiat. Jason Baptiste, CEO of crypto project YDY, says Apple is “applying legacy thinking to a brand new technology,” and I agree with him. But I also think Apple's approach to NFTs fits the most likely future of mainstream NFT adoption: name brand intellectual property (IP) converted into NFTs and sold for local fiat.
NBA Top Shot, FIFA+ Collect, Reddit Collectible Avatars, and other officially licensed NFTs all require credit cards to buy new. I think in the future, a major IP with ties to gaming and collectibles, like Pokemon, will offer an NFT app game. Apple wants to make sure it gets its 30% cut of every in-app NFT Pokemon card purchase, as well as every Pokemon NFT minted outside the Apple Store apps. Hey, it could be worse: Zuck’s metaverse charges a 47.5% fee on metaverse transactions.
Apple also says that apps in which users view and display their NFTs will not have to pay a 30% fee, so Instagram will not be banned from the App Store. Reddit allows users to display NFTs as well, but it also sells NFTs on the same platform. If Apple is serious about taking 30% of NFT proceeds, it will likely come after Reddit’s next Collectible Avatar drop.