U.S. App Store to allow apps to skirt 30% fee on NFT, crypto sales following Apple's legal defeat

Epic Games' latest victory in its longstanding court battles with Apple could open up a new wave of crypto-powered apps on the company's U.S. App Store. 

District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presides over the Northern District of California, ruled in Epic Games' favor on Wednesday, demanding that Apple stop restricting app developers from including links or buttons to external methods of making purchases. Such methods are not subject to the steep 30% fee that Apple charges on in-app purchases, or the 27% fee on external purchases. 

While NFT sales were permitted on the App Store before the ruling, any purchases would be subject to Apple's commission fee. OpenSea's iOS app, for example, contains no purchase functionality, and only permits users to browse collections. Other apps, such as MetaMask, leveraged an internal browser to allow for commission-free payments. 

Apple plans to appeal the ruling; however, in the meantime, the company has revised its rules for app developers, allowing such external links in apps on the U.S. App Store. 

Outside the U.S., app developers "...may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase," according to Apple's guidelines. Apple still restricts certain crypto apps, such as apps that would use devices to mine crypto or apps that provide users with cryptocurrency rewards for completing certain activities. 

Epic Games sued Apple in August 2020 after the iPhone maker removed its hit game Fortnite from the App Store. Epic had provoked the company by including a feature to bypass the 30% fee on in-app purchases, then releasing an ad that mocked Apple's own famous "1984" ad. Fortnite will return to the U.S. App Store as soon as next week, according to Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.