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Apple App Store rules reportedly impose 30% commission on in-app NFT trades

NFT startups are citing these commission fees as impossible to work with.

Ozzie Mejia

September 23, 2022 1:45 PM

Apple

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Those who are in the business of selling NFTs are about to see a risky venture become a little less lucrative. Apple appears to have stepped into this matter in order to claim its piece of the NFT pie. It looks like rules are being imposed that allow Apple to take a 30 percent cut of any NFTs sold through iOS apps and the tech company is going out of its way to keep potential sellers from dodging these fees.

As noted by Apple Insider, a typical NFT marketplace will take a 2-3 percent commission. However, according to a new report from The Information, Apple is looking for a whopping 30 percent commission from any NFT deals conducted through iOS apps.

The result is that NFT traders are looking to move away from Apple's ecosystem. Startups, in particular, are noting that the exorbitant fees make it almost impossible to turn a profit. On top of that, App Store purchases must be made in U.S. dollars, since Apple does not deal in cryptocurrency. Because of the inherently volatile nature of cryptocurrency and its value, setting a translated dollar amount is exceedingly difficult.

Apple has responded to The Information's report with prompts to check the App Store rules. That suggests that the fees are high enough to potentially deter NFT sellers from Apple's platform. It's certainly not the first time we've heard about Apple's high commission fees. In fact, that's part of what led to the ongoing war between Apple and Epic Games, which continues to this day. Meanwhile, some NFT dealers are suggesting a bias against them from Apple, citing delays in approvals for NFT and Crypto apps compared to the relatively short turnaround time for approval on the Google Play store.

We'll continue to watch the world of NFTs for any further updates. Keep it on Shacknews, as we monitor this story.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?