A class-action complaint has been filed against Apple by customers who claim the tech giant is preventing cryptocurrency technology from being used in its iOS payment apps and restricting peer-to-peer (p2p) payment options on devices.
Apple has anti-competitive agreements with Venmo and Cash App to limit the usage of cryptocurrency in their payment apps, according to a lawsuit filed in a California District Court on November 17. Plaintiffs essentially had to pay significantly higher prices for transactions as a result of the shift.
Additionally, it is claimed that Apple imposes “contractual limitations” on web browsers in order to prevent users from using its App Store program. Consumers claimed that by doing this, the business was controlling how its iPhones and iPads were used for payments apps.
Customers stated in the court filing that “these agreements limit feature competition and the price competition that would flow from it marketwide, including by barring the incorporation of decentralized cryptocurrency technology within existing or new iOS Peer-to-Peer Payment apps.”
The lawsuit aims to recoup inflated and disproportionate costs that they were required to pay as a result of these limitations on iOS peer-to-peer payment apps.
Since the nature of “no-intermediary” payments has caused problems for a number of crypto-based applications in the past, Apple has not been particularly favorable to cryptocurrency. The IT company is exploring apps that leverage technology related to cryptocurrencies in great detail. When Uniswap attempted to release its wallet app for iOS devices on the App Store, it also created difficulties.
