Apple's 30% NFT Tax: How Will This Policy Damage the Industry?

Last week, Apple established new regulations around NFT trading and crypto exchange applications on App Store. As the tech giant announced, the rules for iOS apps that handle NFT transactions will change. Although it has given the green light for in-app NTF buying, selling, and minting, it will also be imposing heavy tax on such activities.

On Oct 24, Apple clarified that all non-fungible token transactions on iOS devices must use Apple's rails app for in-app commerce, and the company would take a 30% cut from all transactions. The company has also established a new policy around crypto exchange listings on the Apple store.

The 30% tax cut will be a massive push-back for non-fungible token creators and marketplaces. It is evident that developers and marketplace applications will choose to limit in-app NFT functionalities for iOS rather than lose a massive portion of their revenue.

Moreover, this will also impact how NFT and other blockchain apps function and offer services on iOS devices.

A major setback for the wider Web3 initiative?

Apple accounts for over 23% of the global smartphone market. There are over 240 million active iPhone users around the world. Because of the company's decision to charge such an outrageous fee on in-app NFT functionalities, this large user base will now have limited access to NFT services.

Generally, this is a major setback for the wider Web3 initiative. It has come so far with revolutionary innovations around NFT and blockchain, only to be pushed down by corporate money hoarders. While from a corporate and compliance perspective, it's understandable that the tech giants want to enforce a certain amount of tax on such transactions. However, the 30% fee is unreasonable, which some might even refer to as 'road robbery.' It's grotesquely overpriced compared to the average 2.5% commissions on leading marketplace apps such as Magic Eden and OpenSea.

It's important to understand that traders will be left with little to no revenue after paying gas fees, trading fees on marketplaces, and then the additional 30% Apple tax. On top of that, the company's new regulations clarified that such apps won't be able to include buttons, external links, or any other calls to action that can potentially redirect users out of the app to complete NFT transactions. QR codes or crypto wallets are also banned for in-app transactions. Users can only complete any transaction on such apps through Apple's built-in rails e-commerce system. To add even more frustration to this rigid process, Apple allows users to purchase NFT with fiat currencies, not crypto.

Magic Eden has already removed its services from the App Store since the new policy announcement, and other NFT marketplace apps are also scaling back their application functionality. Most apps are now only allowing users to browse through collections and view their owned non-fungible tokens.

New policy: possible consequences for the industry

Apple's new policy will only impact the core NFT trade market to a limited extent. This is because most marketplaces are easily accessible via web browsers and can be traded through web3 wallets like Metamask. The biggest damage will be dealt to blockchain and dApps that use non-fungible tokens as a part of their ecosystems.

The recently innovated Move2Earn or Burn2Earn projects like Amazy, Stepn, and FitBurn face a bigger challenge. Such apps incentivize users through NFTs for various fitness activities. Moreover, non-fungible tokens are critical to their ecosystems, with all their in-app interactions around these digital assets.

Because of Apple's new policies, these projects need to redesign their in-app solutions and rebuild websites to provide more alternative accessibility. This will not only delay project development and launch but also drain their budgets. For projects that are already established in the market, this policy can quickly lead to a collapse in the project's ecosystem and disrupt the token price.

In conclusion, it's safe to say that Apple's decision to impose a 30% tax on NFT transactions is unprecedented, absurd, and outrageous for the entire web3 community. This policy shows that the tech giants favor ramping up their profits rather than being receptive to new innovations. Apple will likely face a lot of backlash and condemnation from the community in the coming days. So, it will be a real challenge for the company to sustain this decision.