Apple pulls Bitcoin wallet app Blockchain from iOS App Store
Apple on Wednesday removed Blockchain from the App Store due to an "unresolved issue," leaving some 120,000 users of the only iOS-compatible Bitcoin trading and storage app in the lurch.
Blockchain CEO Nicolas Cary told Wired that Apple did not offer a detailed explanation as to why the app was pulled, saying only that the title was "removed from the App Store due to an unresolved issue."
With over one million users worldwide using software on numerous operating systems, Blockchain is touted as the "world's most popular" wallet service for bitcoins.
Apple's move may not come as a surprise to some as the company has a history of denying app submissions that allow users to trade the world's most popular digital currency.
In November, an iOS Bitcoin wallet app from San Francisco startup Coinbase was removed, while another from Gliph was forced to disable transactions in order to stay in the App Store, reports Bloomberg.
Being a peer-to-peer "virtual currency" that exists only in the digital realm, Bitcoin has been met with resistance from governments loath to recognize it as a legitimate form of money. Most Bitcoin trading occurs online, but exchanges that convert bitcoins to traditional currencies like dollars and euros do exist.
While the U.S. does not have written laws against the trade of bitcoins, Apple's multinational App Store requires developers adhere to the laws of the territory in which their apps are offered. This does not explain, however, why the Blockchain app was yanked from all areas after being active in the App Store debut its debut in 2012.
The apparent demise of Blockchain for iOS leaves Bitcoin traders no recourse on Apple's mobile operating system, though price tracking apps like Coinbits and Bitcoin Tracker are still available.
Blockchain CEO Nicolas Cary told Wired that Apple did not offer a detailed explanation as to why the app was pulled, saying only that the title was "removed from the App Store due to an unresolved issue."
With over one million users worldwide using software on numerous operating systems, Blockchain is touted as the "world's most popular" wallet service for bitcoins.
Apple's move may not come as a surprise to some as the company has a history of denying app submissions that allow users to trade the world's most popular digital currency.
In November, an iOS Bitcoin wallet app from San Francisco startup Coinbase was removed, while another from Gliph was forced to disable transactions in order to stay in the App Store, reports Bloomberg.
Being a peer-to-peer "virtual currency" that exists only in the digital realm, Bitcoin has been met with resistance from governments loath to recognize it as a legitimate form of money. Most Bitcoin trading occurs online, but exchanges that convert bitcoins to traditional currencies like dollars and euros do exist.
While the U.S. does not have written laws against the trade of bitcoins, Apple's multinational App Store requires developers adhere to the laws of the territory in which their apps are offered. This does not explain, however, why the Blockchain app was yanked from all areas after being active in the App Store debut its debut in 2012.
The apparent demise of Blockchain for iOS leaves Bitcoin traders no recourse on Apple's mobile operating system, though price tracking apps like Coinbits and Bitcoin Tracker are still available.
Comments
There's plenty of media hype surrounding the currency but nobody really tells you the whole story.
Do yourself a favor and find out the Secrets of Bitcoin.
bit.do/BitCoinSecrets
An observation: If Apple is really heavily curating it's appstore, closely examining every app before before it's made available then how did bitcoin apps ever get approved in the first place.
Grey area? Apple trying to decide if they can get in trouble for currency transactions done through their devices?
I wonder if Apple is not treating the Blockchain app as a commodities buying app, or a banking app and is treating it like Amazon's e-book app? I see Bitcoins more like a currency or commodity (like gold or silver), or even like stocks. Maybe their app has been miscategorized by the app dev, or maybe the Blockchain app duplicates functionality in Apple's iWallet. It would be nice if the iWallet app had Bitcoin integration and used iTunes accounts as a form of storage for crypto currencies.
Apple could really revolutionize crypto if they've designed iWallet right. Could greatly simplify reporting for use in taxes also...another very fuzzy area for crypto coin holders and the IRS has made no decisions on how they will treat crypto coin buy-sell activity.
I have mined a few Bitcoins, just for the technical challenge of it, but never spent any. I honestly don't think there's much of a future in it. Digital currencies and payment systems are clearly the future, but the winning crypto coin will be one backed by gold or by a government, none of the current ones. I think Apple is right to keep out of it until it settles down a bit, and the picture is a bit clearer.
I'd like to see a reason for Apple removing this app. It could be that the security of the Blockchain wallet app was pretty low once the phone was unlocked.
However, I'm sure it is more to do with the fact that they're scared of the micro-payment / digital currency competition that is coming like a high-speed train towards them... and everyone else. For this reason, I think they could regret decisions like this. Something big is happening and it can't be stopped.
Just because it has been pulled from the store, doesn't stop existing users from continuing to use it.
New users will just have to JB their device and find a cydia download.
Just because it has been pulled from the store, doesn't stop existing users from continuing to use it.
New users will just have to JB their device and find a cydia download.
Apple contends that doing so is a criminal offence under the DMCA. You also violate any license agreement you had with Apple and especially if you are a developer.
Is it really worth it? In the US I wouldn't take the risk.
Apple lost the jailbrake as DCMA issue in court.
Apple lost the jailbrake as DCMA issue in court.
Did they? I thought that there was just a temporary exception passed.
Oh noes, angry bitcoiners. There's only 79 comments. I wonder if these people belong to the top 100:
The top 100 bitcoiners own over 20% of all the bitcoins. Bitcoin inequality!
http://bitcoinrichlist.com/top100
One of those wallets is the Winkelvoss twins that made their money suing Facebook for stealing their idea. I think it's lower down though ($20m?). One of them is the wallet belonging to the FBI seized from the drug trading market. It might be incorrectly labeled as the top one but there could be more than one.
AI has a link to the guidelines. The section on currencies doesn't quite cover it exactly but it might be about external purchases:
"Apps utilizing a system other than the In App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an app will be rejected"
http://photos.appleinsidercdn.com/App Store Review Guidelines - App Store Resource Centerai.pdf
Paypal apps or banking apps break this rule too but it's harder to use those for money laundering. Aren't bitcoiners just able to use a website to handle bitcoin transactions anyway, maybe a web app?
Blockchain.info just announced their millionth wallet, so they aren't small potatoes and they aren't the only place to trade. It's my understanding that BTC-e is now the biggest.
The money laundering comment doesn't make sense because rules from FinCEN already limit that kind of activity with their "know your customer" requirements. Unless one buys Bitcoin using cash in-person from a seller, there is no real anonymity. There are crypto currencies that are being created to have complete anonymity, but Bitcoin and the other most popular cryptos are not that.
The various stockbrokers apps also do not require IAP functionality, therefore my guess is iWallet (at least as described in their recently revealed patent) may offer duplicate functionality.
Finally, lest you sneer further at Bitcoiners...I know someone personally who got in early and will soon pay off his house with the proceeds from the sale of his Bitcoin. Not bad for his (approximately) $1,000 investment.
A little while ago TechCrunch had an article blasting Apple about removing another bit coin app from the App Store. The next day a country declared bit coins illegal. TechCrunch did not update the article nor write another article about the illegality issues of bit coin support. TechCrunch just wanted Apple to support bit coins and illegality issues be damned.
Apple cannot operate that way.
To LozBlanko, welcome! I doubt Apple fears any coming digital currency as long as the currency is legal in every country Apple operates in. It would be interesting to see you and others start your own businesses then start supporting the bit coin currency as you want Apple to do. Then let interested readers know of your experiences. Obviously you think Apple has dropped an important ball. You could pick up the ball and show Apple exactly what it missed out on.
another way to look at is the fact that Apple may be getting into the payment processing system of their own and bitcoin is more or less a payment processing system of it own. Right now it is more of an investment in what it could be and lots of people will loose in the deal since people are buying in high and it is not stable so it makes it hard to buy things with it since each day you have no clue what it is going to cost you.
The volatility of crypto currencies is not really an issue. Businesses are using Bitcoin payment processors like BitPay (there are others).
In my opinion, crypto currencies are great for removing central bankers and politicians from the manipulation of money and also they reduce the costs of transmitting money (a la Western Union) to almost nothing.
My first thought was that these BTC wallets were duplicating functionality in Apple's yet-to-be-announced iOS wallet.
another way to look at is the fact that Apple may be getting into the payment processing system of their own and bitcoin is more or less a payment processing system of it own. Right now it is more of an investment in what it could be and lots of people will loose in the deal since people are buying in high and it is not stable so it makes it hard to buy things with it since each day you have no clue what it is going to cost you.
Yeah, I think it's pretty clear it's due to their pending own mobile payment system. They also covered their bases for banning such not exactly objectionable apps by the rule that if an app's activity is illegal anywhere in the world they have the right to ban it, so they can choose when to ban or let apps slide according to their needs.
It's their store, they can do what they want. Might be shutting themselves out of a slice of the pie, as Bitcoin has taken off enough that they may have set a standard format that could keep Apple close to the starting gate, similar to what Apple was able to do with the iTunes Store. And I can see it being a dealkiller for those who use it and possibly that will quintuple in size in two years.
I have mined a few Bitcoins, just for the technical challenge of it, but never spent any. I honestly don't think there's much of a future in it. Digital currencies and payment systems are clearly the future, but the winning crypto coin will be one backed by gold or by a government, none of the current ones. I think Apple is right to keep out of it until it settles down a bit, and the picture is a bit clearer.
Now you've got me feeling like doing a little also, just for jollies. Agree with your thoughts on the rest.