- Block CEO, Jack Dorsey, criticizes Apple for seemingly not supporting Bitcoin payments, sparked by the ban of the Bitcoin-based social app, Damus, from Apple’s app store.
- Dorsey has previously commended Nostr, the Bitcoin-based protocol behind Damus, and has encouraged Bitcoin tipping on Twitter.
The recent expulsion of the Bitcoin-friendly social app, Damus, from Apple’s app store has provoked a sharp response from Block CEO Jack Dorsey, who questions Apple CEO Tim Cook’s apparent hesitation in embracing Bitcoin payments.
Damus, a decentralized social media app, facilitates interactions on Nostr—a Bitcoin-based protocol that enables exchange of information and messages in a censorship-proof manner. Notably, the app contains a unique tipping function called ‘zaps’ that enables users to reward one another with Bitcoin via the lightning network. This exchange of value is strictly peer-to-peer, with Damus abstaining from any cut from such transactions.
However, this feature contravened Apple’s terms of service approximately two weeks ago. According to Apple, the guidelines permit optional tips and donations, but bar any payments necessitated in exchange for digital content. All such transactions, the tech giant argues, should be conducted through in-app purchases per guideline 3.1.1.
Despite Damus’s resistance to remove the feature and its insistence that ‘zaps’ do not ‘unlock’ any digital content, Apple reiterated its stance on Monday, leaving Damus with no choice but to anticipate its removal from the app store. Damus’s rather tongue-in-cheek response on Twitter was:
“Sure, I’ll use apple pay when it supports censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer payments to anyone in the world. Maybe start with peer-to-peer first?”
Jack Dorsey was quick to leap to Damus’s defense upon hearing the news. Echoing Damus’s arguments, he stated,
“Tips aren’t unlocking content.”
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The following day, Dorsey directly addressed Apple’s CEO with:
“Removed from the App Store for enabling tipping to everyone in the world without the need for a bank, payment card, or government permission.”
Previously, Dorsey had acknowledged Nostr and Bitcoin as two
“truly censorship resistant technologies at scale”.
While serving as Twitter’s CEO, he had facilitated a Bitcoin tipping feature on the platform, closely resembling Nostr’s approach. Notably, while Tim Cook has shown no interest in integrating Bitcoin into Apple’s balance sheet, he has disclosed his personal ownership of some coins.
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