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Coinbase Decry Apple’s Ban On NFT Transfers

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Coinbase took to Twitter to reveal that Apple has blocked non-fungible tokens [NFT] transfers on Coinbase Wallet iOS.

“You might have noticed you can’t send NFTs on Coinbase Wallet iOS anymore. This is because Apple blocked our last app release until we disabled the feature,” the tweet read.

Apple in its defense claimed that the gas fees required to send NFTs need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system so that they can collect 30% of the gas fee.

Slamming the tech giant’s policy, the exchange stated that this is not how NFTs and blockchains work. “Apple’s proprietary In-App Purchase system does not support crypto so we couldn’t comply even if we tried”.

Coinbase said Apple’s claim of collecting the tax is similar to paying fees for every email sent over open Internet protocols.

Further, the exchange said that the biggest impact of this policy change would be on iPhone users that own NFTs on an iPhone as it would be difficult to transfer to other wallets.

Therefore, it continued, Apple should introduce new policies to drive consumer investment in NFTs and developer innovation across the crypto ecosystem rather than focus only on their profits.

The California-based tech behemoth firm has earlier rejected calls to exempt NFTs from its 30% “Apple Tax” on in-app purchases.

Its list of critics also included current Twitter CEO Elon Musk who recently called it a “hidden 30% tax”, which ironically wasn’t any secret. Apple’s App Store tax was announced back in 2008, rather openly by then-CEO Steve Jobs.

With regard to the latest development, Apple made no comments at the time of writing this article.

That said, Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States by trading volume and the first exchange to list on a U.S. stock market, raised awareness of its bug bounty program after a recent extortion attempt.

Coinbase Debunks Extortionist Claims

Coinbase received a mail from an anonymous sender claiming to have “dehashed” and “decrypted” sensitive data from 306 million Coinbase user accounts. The exchange disclosed that it was practically impossible to “dehash” or “decrypt” data.

The individual threatened the trading platform to pay $450,000, or else the data would be leaked.

After speaking with the extortionist, Coinbase’s security staff determined that the claims of a breach were untrue.

Apple Users Warned by MetaMask as iCloud Phishing Attacks Increase

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MetaMask, a crypto wallet company owned by ConsenSys, has issued a warning to the public about Apple iCloud phishing assaults.

The vulnerability affects iPhone, Mac, and iPad users since default device settings save a user’s seed phrase or “password-encrypted MetaMask vault” on the iCloud if the user has allowed automatic backups for their app data.

Users risk losing their assets if their Apple password “isn’t strong enough” and an attacker is able to phish their account credentials, according to a Twitter thread posted on April 18.

To ensure the safety of the wallet, MetaMask released a tweet detailing the instructions:

Warnings from a MetaMask user who fell, victim

The MM warning came in response to allegations from an NFT collector known on Twitter as “revive dom,” who reported on April 15 that this precise security problem deleted his whole wallet, which included $650,000 worth of digital currencies and NFTs.

DAPE NFT project founder “Serpent” – who also helped capture the attention of MetaMask by sharing the news with their 277,000 followers – presented a synopsis of what occurred to the victim in a different thread earlier today.

The victim got repeated text messages urging him to change his Apple ID password, as well as a phony call from Apple that was ultimately a faked caller ID, according to him.

“revive dom” gave over a six-digit verification number to establish that he was the owner of the Apple account, despite the fact that he was apparently unaware of the caller. The fraudsters then hung up and used data from his iCloud account to get access to his MetaMask account.

“revive dom” expressed his displeasure with MetaMask after the warning was issued today, saying that:

“I’m not saying they shouldn’t do it; I’m just saying they should inform us about it.” Don’t tell us we should never keep our seed phrase online, then go ahead and do it behind our backs. If 90% of people were aware of this, I’m willing to bet that none of them would have the app or iCloud turned on.”

Apple’s upcoming tap and pay feature will allow merchants to accept crypto

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Apple has revealed plans to provide Tap to Pay on the iPhone, a new feature that transforms the smartphone into a point-of-sale device for companies and merchants. So, what does this mean for cryptocurrency?

According to the statement, owing to near-field communication technology, or NFC, iPhone-owning shops may accept contactless payments by utilizing their mobile devices as a point-of-sale system.

Apple’s soon-to-be-released Tap to Pay feature will support “Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets,” according to the company. Customers who have a Coinbase Card, Crypto.com Visa Card, or a similar payments card will be able to use their crypto holdings to make payments unless Apple puts a direct obstacle in the way.

Apple announced Stripe as their payment partner. In 2018, Stripe stopped accepting bitcoin payments. However, the CEO stated in late November 2021 that the firm is open to taking cryptocurrency payments.

Apple to take a bite of crypto

Coinbase, a prominent crypto exchange, merged with Apple Pay and Google Pay in August 2021, allowing customers to buy crypto assets on its platform. It allowed users in the United States to purchase cryptocurrency with bank-issued debit and credit cards through Apple Pay.

To bring Tap to Pay to millions of retailers in the United States, Apple will collaborate with major payment systems and app developers in the payments and commerce sector. Contactless credit and debit cards from prominent payment networks, including American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa, will function with Tap to Pay on iPhone.

Apple CEO Tim Cook stated last year that he owns cryptocurrency. He admitted that he owns cryptocurrencies as “part of a diverse portfolio.” Cook noted that he had been eyeing cryptocurrency and had been interested in it “for a while.”

He stated that his interest stemmed from a “personal standpoint.” He also dismissed the speculations that Apple may accept cryptocurrency as money in return for products or purchase it with company assets. “I’m not giving anyone investment advice by the way.”, he added.

Recently Cash App, a mobile payments app developed and owned by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s Block, has announced support for BTC transactions over the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

“Bitcoin can never be created, it is mathematically pure”- Steve Wozniak

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Bitcoin [BTC] is mathematical purity with a very trustable format that cannot be easily changed with humans in control, is what the co-founder of Apple Steven Gary Wozniak believes. He went on to compare BTC with the US dollar which can be created by the government and used for borrowing but has never been fixed, unlike bitcoin. Proclaiming it as mathematical purity, the entrepreneur declared that there can never be another bitcoin.

While endorsing the king coin, Wozniak feels that the asset can be used ‘effectively’ for payments. He went on to add,

“Yes, I am in that camp that crypto will be used effectively. We have so many digital ways to pay for things now. Crypto just has a little bit of anonymity. I don’t know if that’s right that, I can do things without people knowing. It is hard to trace back crypto, though it is possible.”

Wozniak had on many occasions has shown support for cryptocurrencies. In 2021, speaking at a technology event Talent Land Digital in Mexico, Wozniak had termed BTC a “unique mathematical formula” and a “miracle of technology”. As per local news, the founder deemed the king coin to be much better than gold. “Gold is limited and you have to look for it, Bitcoin is the most amazing mathematical miracle. While Wozniak mentioned that he did not invest in Bitcoin, but ‘believe in it for the future.’

His interest in the asset was not simply limited to mere speeches. After his stint in Apple, Wozniak a.k.a Woz ventured into the blockchain space.

Wozniak’s love for Bitcoin led to this

45 years after he co-founded Apple in Steve Jobs’ parent’s garage in 1976, Wozniak launched his second company called Efforce, a blockchain-based enterprise in the energy efficiency space. According to a company statement, Efforce is a marketplace that enables companies to undertake energy efficiency measures at no cost so that they can invest their liquidity in more critical tasks.

The firm had also launched its own cryptocurrency called WOZX to securitize energy savings. In December 2021, Apple CEO Tim Cook grabbed headlines when he revealed he personally owns cryptocurrency while stating that Apple is looking at it from a technology perspective, but not from a treasury decision.

Crypto will be outlawed if it goes mainstream: Apple’s co-founder

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The crypto industry is over a decade old now. Bitcoin [BTC] along with an array of assets managed to garner the attention of the entire globe. The crypto industry went from being closely related to the dark web to becoming a $2 trillion market. This journey was certainly impeccable and was lauded by many. While the involvement of governments was minimizing the essence of the industry, the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak suggested that regulators would drive the market out if it went mainstream.

The crypto market gained fame following its unique aspects. The fact that the industry had nothing to do with centralized markets was a huge selling point. However, now, the industry was seen being extensively scrutinized by regulators across the globe. The Ripple vs. SEC case, the delay, and cancellation of Bitcoin ETFs in the US, China’s latest crypto takedown have been proof enough on how regulators were taking over the industry.

While the industry was just being recognized and making progress, Steve Wozniak suggested that this could soon end.

Crypto to be banned if it becomes too big?

Appearing in a recent interview, the co-founder of Apple expressed his views about the digital asset industry. While he spoke about an array of things, he clearly pointed out that the government wouldn’t allow cryptocurrencies to grow beyond the reach of centralized systems.

Noting that this could lead to the ban of these assets he stated,

“Trouble is that the government will never allow it to be out of their control. If it got to the point that everything was being done with crypto and it didn’t pass through governments for observation and taxation and all that…governments would just disallow it. They wouldn’t give up their power.”

Elon Musk and several others had previously suggested that China could have initiated its massive crypto takedown due to the industry’s level of decentralization.

Turns out, Wozniak wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Back in March, Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates noted that governments could ban Bitcoin as things could get out of hand.

Binance Announces Stock Tokens For Microstrategy, Apple, Microsoft

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Cryptocurrency exchange, Binance announced support for three stock tokens of industry behemoths – Microstrategy [MSTR], Apple [AAPL], and Microsoft [MSFT] today.

The stock token for business intelligence company, Microstrategy [MSTR/BUSD] will be listed on the 26th of April while that of American multinational tech firms Apple [AAPL/BUSD] and Microsoft [MSFT/BUSD] will be made available on the 28th and 30th of April respectively.

The stock tokens on Binance’s platform are shares of public companies that trade on traditional stock exchanges. The Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange had previously detailed that each Stock Token represents one ordinary share of the relevant stock which is completely backed by a depository portfolio of underlying securities maintained by its partner CM-Equity AG, Germany who are tasked with monitoring all trading activity for compliance.

Binance competitors such as FTX as well as Bittrex Global also offers trading in stock tokens through CM-Equity.

The Founder and CEO of the platform, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao had recently asserted that the latest move was the indication of seamless democratization of value transfer by reducing friction and costs to accessibility, without bargaining on factors such as compliance or security.

The latest development comes around two weeks after Binance announced venturing into the space of tokenized stock trading with the listing of Tesla stock tokens, which allowed the exchange’s users to buy Tesla tokens representing its shares.

Binance’s Stock Token Raises Red Flag

Binance had come under the scrutiny of the European watchdogs including the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority [FCA] for its stock token offering that was launched earlier this month. According to reports, the regulators were now probing whether it adhered to security rules before rolling out.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority was quoted saying to the Financial Times that it was working with Binance to examine the product, “the regulations that may apply to it and how it is marketed”. It also went on to add that,

“..firms and their senior management teams are responsible for determining whether their products and services fall within the remit of the FCA.”

Apple Accused of Being “Hostile and Restrictive” by Coinbase CEO; Epic Games Files Lawsuit

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Cryptocurrencies have faced a lot of restrictions and criticism from big tech-firms over the years. While these digital assets continue on their pursuit to innovate payments and transactions, its new direction hasn’t always taken flight with other major corporations.

Now, one of the major organizations that have been rigid towards certain innovations over the years has been Apple, and in a recent conversation, the entities’ “rules” were under the spotlight.

In response to this thread on Twitter, Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase also raised his voice and suggested that Apple hasn’t been very cordial about cryptocurrency transactions as well. according to Armstrong, Apple has been very “restrictive and hostile” towards digital assets over the years as the CEO suggested that the company has been repetitively blocking some of the major crypto functions.

He added,

“They’re still blocking some functionality right now, including the ability to earn money with cryptocurrency by completing tasks, and unrestricted dApp browsers.”

Armstrong was probably talking about the Coinbase Earn exchange, an initiative that allows its users to earn cryptocurrency like Bitcoin by learning about it. Coinbase also cited its reasons back in December 2019 that it had to comply with the AppStore rule and hence removed the functionality of the dApp browser from their application.

Back then, Armstrong suggested that the decentralized form of innovation was an important move in the world of finance and a majority of early adopters had millions of dollars worth of crypto tied to these financial applications.

Apple’s long-legal problems with other organization

For Apple, their restrictions currently go far beyond in-app functionality. A week earlier, Epic Games filed a legal suit against Apple Inc. for allegedly monopolizing third-party payments markets and making innovations such as BTC payments impossible.

According to the lawsuit, Apple had imposed “an oppressive” 30% sales tax on application sales with the game and also made third-party payments redundant.

Epic Games had put forward a request in front of the U.S District Court of Northern District California to force Apple to not act in an an-competitive manner and let go of their hold over the in-app payments system.

Bitcoin: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Joe Biden; No one survived the recent BTC hack!

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Bitcoin scams and hacks have been extremely common over the last few years, but the recent conundrum on Twitter may have been the most memorable one in recent years.

Surrounding a cryptocurrency scam, an unidentified hacker found his way into several high-profile Twitter accounts and asked for BTC donations on social media platforms.

From Apple to Uber, from Kanye West to Barack Obama, everyone’s profile was intertwined, and a common tweet shared across everyone’s handle echoed a BTC donations message.

“I am giving back to the community. All Bitcoin sent to the address below will be sent back doubled! If you send $1000, I will send back $2000. Only doing this for 30 minutes.”

BTC donation
Source: Instagram

Following the incredible mess, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey made an online statement stating the organization’s regrets about the situation. The CEO said the company felt “terrible this happened.”

Dmitry Alperovitch, the co-founder of Crowd Strike, informed media outlets that the above-mentioned hack could possibly be the “worst witness” on a major social media platform in history.

Hacker possibly made $120,000 in Bitcoins; unconfirmed

Although unconfirmed, Business Insider suggested that data from available blockchain records suggested that a hacker might make up close to $120,000 over the short scam period.

The hack was identified within hours, but hundreds of people took the bait on the platform and one particular wallet address reported receiving more than 350 transactions.

Ironically, the functionality of Bitcoin may make it difficult to properly identify the exact amount that the hack was able to collect during the scam.

Tron’s Justin Sun announces $1 million bounty following hack

The attention received by the scam was widespread and crypto proponents were taking centre stage as well. Justin Sun, Founder of TRON, released a bounty of $1 million for the capture of the hacker as he revealed that his team was working closely with Twitter on the issue. He informed outlets,

“We are working closely with Twitter to resolve this issue immediately and return our accounts to normal. We are always vigilant in handling our accounts; operating safely and responsibly — taking the security of our accounts to the highest standards possible. This only further illuminates the urgent need for our society to adopt decentralized, trustless software, and services.”

What Future do $1 Trillion of Companies have in Fintech?

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Silicon Valley start-ups are targeting fintech as their next phase of disruption. Business has become even more aggressive than ever before. Dynamics shifts to accommodating the young generation in particular, through big technology finance.

The benefit with fintech is the ability to create a seamless hassle while purchasing and paying for goods online.  Apple recently became the most valuable company in the unicorn list after it hit a trillion dollar valuation.

Armed with goals of innovating technology to a customer friendly and sleeker future, industry experts wonder whether the technology giant will do more with financial technology? Or rather contribute significantly to the fintech industry.

GBH Insights Chief Strategy Officer Daniel Ives highlights that most tech giants have shifted much more aggression into banking. At the same time, these companies have been trying to grasp consumer lifestyle. And therefore delving into financial mechanism has helped them gain actionable insight on consumer spending.

Also Read:

Germany Clarifies Bitcoin As Financial Instrument and Crypto Custodians as Financial Institutions

Ben Elliot of Bloomberg Intelligence compares the lure of financial data as a means for merchants to have a broader view of a customer’s wallet. In a 2018 Memo by Apple Inc, CEO Tim Cook reported how Apple Pay transactions tripled within a year and hit more than  $1 billion. According to a data intelligence firm, this figure was high compared to numbers reported for PayPal and Square mobile transactions. Cook said:

“Financial returns are simply the result of Apple’s innovation, putting our products and customers first, and always staying true to our values.”

After the introduction of the iPhone back in 2007, Apple introduced Fintech.  The technology world then viewed the iPhone as a game-changer. Subsequently, this will result in the introduction of the payment system. Apple Pay took advantage of the near-field communications (NFC) technology, which was previously operated by banks and provided a contactless means of payment through smartphones.

The Bank for International Settlements prepared a report entitled, “Big Tech in Finance: Opportunities and Risks; sought to quizzically address the question of whether big tech companies had more advantage in the banking sector. This report denoted consumer data and analytics as a significant byproduct of big company’s operations.  Fears of an emergent invasion by corporations such as Amazon and Apple into the banking space has attained a fever pitch.

The overarching trend has been to forge alliances between Wall Street payment firms and the Silicon Valley giants. However, if Amazon could steal from PayPal’s Venmo sites or run a payment retailer, it would likely be able to gain market share from existing payment processors such as Mastercard and Visa.

Following increased regulatory scrutiny, Facebook’s Libra today decided to go the digital payment processing way. Libra is now considering having digital versions of established currencies such as the Euro and the Dollar. It is now clear, more than ever that the slice of pie for traditional payment is attracting the attention of Silicon Valley unicorns.

Amazon, for instance, has been deliberating on an Alexa enabled car that one could pay for gas using their voice. Likewise, Samsung and Google have already rolled out payment platforms.

The big question, in this case, is why these companies are so eager to join the digital payment sector. Let’s take a look at the Big Tech data report on finance.

Financial services are only a small part of their business globally, but due to their size and scope of customers, the introduction of large tech companies into finance has the potential to cause a dramatic change in the industry. Big tech’s low-cost structure sector can be quickly scaled up to provide basic financial.

Using big data and analysis of the network structure in their established platforms, big techs can assess the riskiness of borrowers, reducing the need for collateral to assure repayment.”

Key takeaways include:

  1. Low Cost Structure – an efficient business platform requires effective logistics management, Integration infrastructure, and distribution layers. Take Amazon’s platform business for instance, and see how this investment in the network has catered for its growth.

  2. Fintech services could be a small part of big technology companies’ offerings, yet the financial services of these companies are not small – S&P Capital gave an 11% estimation of the revenue generation of big technology corporations’ financial services. You wouldn’t ignore the value of eleven percent on an ecosystem boasting hundreds of millions of users.

  3. Relevant data | and not just big data  – Amazon has been able to issue huge amounts of cash advances through its merchant cash because it was armed with two important bits of information: (1).Revenue inflow to the borrower. (2).Revenue inflow to borrower’s industry segment.  Big tech company’s access to relevant data has enabled them to remain on track with consumer lifestyles.

Meanwhile, the invasion of big tech companies into the banking space seems relatively driven by market theatrics. The interplay of online consumerization rather than the emergence of technologies such as AI and Blockchain. However, they too had a major role to play and in the near future-maybe most unicorn companies will grow to a trillion valuations and those currently holding positions will triple. You never learn why.

Tron CEO Justin Sun Meets With Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak; Community Tries To Gather More Information On ‘Partnership’

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The cryptocurrency market has always seen tie-ups with mainstream companies and individuals as a marker for adoption. Tron, the cryptocurrency known for its multitude of announcements recently broke the news of a significant jump in popularity.

Justin Sun, the Chief Executive Officer [CEO] of the Tron Foundation recently announced that he had met Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple.

During a time when everyone was running helter-skleter for partnerships, Tron seems to be enjoying its moment in the limelight. The news about the meeting was first shared by Wozniak on Twitter when he tweeted:

Sun went on to retweet this news, claiming that he was looking forward to their ‘partnership’. It’s still unsure as to what they may have discussed, but a majority of the Tronics become already on-board with the Tron CEO

Some have speculated that the discussion may have surrounded adding TRX tokens to upcoming iPhones. The chances of that happening may be slim as most of the executive decisions for Apple was taken by its CEO, Tim Cook. The reason why some believed that Tron may be added to future Apple tech was that the former did that with Samsung.

Back in October 2019, the Korean tech giant had decided to integrate Tron and Mobile-compatible dApp building tools to its fold. According to a release by Samsung, the Samsung Blockchain Keystore SD v1.2.0 contained APIs that would allow TRX transactions. This was a huge win for Tron as it was the first time that a cryptocurrency had been fully integrated with a mainstream component, let alone with Samsung.

A few members in the cryptoverse joked that Sun’s meeting with Wozniak would have gone the same way as the lunch with Warren Buffett. These critics were referring to the charity lunch that Justin Sun missed after talking about it for weeks on end.

The latest meeting between the two public figures has prompted some cryptocurrency enthusiasts to believe that digital assets were finally breaking into the mainstream fore. Steve Wozniak has also been a popular player in the crypto industry by commenting on its regulatory issues as well as advantages.

Just a few months back, Wozniak had claimed that he liked the concept of cryptocurrencies but some countries did not know how to handle it. He was afraid that countries only wanted control, thereby beating the essence of digital assets. Wozniak asserted that developers need to invent effective solutions using blockchain and crypto as that would allow other industries to sit up and take notice.

The Apple c-founder’s interest in crypto was solidified in late 2018 when he co-founded EQUI Global. The venture capital firm works by issuing investors a digital currency called EquiTokens, which can later be traded.