Apple To Facilitate NFT Sales Via Apps, But Will Charge 30% Commission
Tech giant Apple will reportedly allow the sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on applications on the Apple App Store, but these sales will be subject to a 30% commission despite the fact that the company won't play any part in the sales.
According to a report by The Information, Apple told startups that NFTs are now permitted to be sold on the App Store, but all the sales must be through in-app which will be subject to the 30% commission. In response, NFT startups argued that such high commission fees are not feasible for their existence and called them unreasonable.
The report said that the exorbitant fee structure has limited the functionality of applications on the App Store as the firms aim to dodge the 30% commission imposed by the California-headquartered firm although it plays no role in the sale of these NFTs.
Tech patent blogger FOSS Patents stated in a report that the actual commission rates can many times exceed the 30% mark and then, they also have to pay Search Ads as Apple places ads even on individual app pages.
Interestingly, Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic Games, commented on Apple's decision while stating that the company 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."
As per FOSS Patents, since NFTs are still legal, the tech giant taxing NFT startups is a sign of unfair treatment as they also have the same rights as other tech startups.
A Twitter user @saftykuma pointed out that "this is basically just Apple muscling in and forcing itself in on the grift by utilizing its anti-competitive platform against app developers proving once again that Epic's argument against Apple was 100% correct, even when it's an NFT scammer."
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