Cryptocurrency payments may soon become commonplace in the iOS app ecosystem. All thanks to a lawsuit between game publisher Epic Games and Apple, which was reviewed by the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California.
As a result, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a permanent injunction, according to which Apple can no longer prevent iOS platform developers from processing payments through external services. Recall that up to this point, all transactions went directly through Apple with a commission of up to 30 percent for all user purchases in applications. And experts see this as positive for the digital asset industry.
Note that the topic of cryptocurrency payments in services and applications has been voiced not for the first time. For example, at the beginning of the month it became known about the initiative of the Twitter developers who will introduce the tip function in BTC. Accordingly, readers will be able to transfer cryptocurrency to the authors of the content they like – and in an adapted native form. Read more about this in a separate article.
Cryptocurrencies on iPhone
The court ruling will enter into force in 90 days, if it is not suspended by higher courts. In fact, this is a serious blow to the current app monetization model in the App Store, which has generated huge profits for the company since 2008. According to expert estimates, in 2020 alone, Apple made over $ 64 billion in App Store commissions.
As Decrypt notes, Epic Games challenged Apple’s closed payments ecosystem in August 2020. The company’s developers have updated the iOS version of their popular Fortnite game to add the ability to purchase in-game currency directly through their platform. This violated Apple’s developer terms, and the game was later removed from the App Store, leading to legal action.
After the court order comes into force, Apple will be forced to allow developers to create iPhone and iPad apps that offer a wider range of payment options through external services. Ultimately, many of them will even be able to resort to cryptocurrencies as an alternative means of monetizing their content. And this is a potentially very profitable strategy, because since the end of 2020, the cryptoindustry has experienced an explosive growth in popularity both in the United States and in the rest of the world.
This means that there are more than enough fans of this category of digital assets among users of the iPhone and other Apple devices in the world. And they quite predictably want to spend some coins on various acquisitions in the virtual world.
Crypto payments can already be made with Apple Pay using third-party financial service providers such as Coinbase and BitPay. However, the aforementioned court decision could significantly reduce the chain of intermediaries for consumer payments in digital assets – for example, open the way to direct transactions from their cryptocurrency wallets. At least this assumption was shared by analysts against the backdrop of what is happening.
Another crypto payment solution from BitPay
However, for Epic Games themselves, the judge’s decision was not entirely positive. The court also ruled that the studio still violated its contract with Apple and must pay 30 percent of the $ 12.2 million in revenue from transactions that took place outside the company’s app ecosystem.
Representatives of Epic Games in a recent interview confirmed or that they will continue to fight with Apple, as the company «suppresses competition in the free market and artificially inflates prices. » This is a profitable strategy for a game publisher, in addition, thanks to it, Epic will be able to attract many more customers, even from the category of cryptocurrency lovers, who will try to pay for goods on the platform using cryptocurrencies.
We believe that the current activity in the cryptocurrency market is the best fit for the development of an alternative payment system in applications for iOS devices. Yet in recent months, many digital assets have shown incredible growth, which has attracted the attention of many people unfamiliar with the industry. And if now it will be possible to spend coins, including in applications, the popularity of the crypt will certainly grow in the future – especially given the current trend in the form of unique NFT tokens.
