Apple Bans Cryptocurrency Mining
Apple (Brand value: $146.3 billion, Rank: 2)
Apple has introduced a new section 3.1.5 (b) – cryptocurrency in its App Store Review Guidelines that apply to iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS app.
- Apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining.
- Wallets: Apps may facilitate virtual currency storage, provided they are offered by developers enrolled as an organization.
- Mining: Apps may not mine for cryptocurrencies unless the processing is performed off device (e.g. cloud-based mining).
- Exchanges: Apps may facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange, provided they are offered by the exchange itself.
- Initial Coin Offerings: Apps facilitating Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”), cryptocurrency futures trading, and other crypto-securities or quasi-securities trading must come from established banks, securities firms, futures commission merchants (“FCM”), or other approved financial institutions and must comply with all applicable law.
- Cryptocurrency apps may not offer currency for completing tasks, such as downloading other apps, encouraging other users to download, posting to social networks, etc.
Apple in March removed “Calendar 2” app from the Mac App Store after it started mining cryptocurrency on devices in exchange for premium features.
Facebook and Google have already banned cryptocurrency, token sales and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) advertisements on their platforms.
YouTube was recently caught displaying ads that covertly leach off visitors‘ CPUs and electricity to generate digital currency on behalf of anonymous attackers, it was widely reported.
Twitter has also started blocking cryptocurrency-related ads on its platform.
“We have added a new policy for Twitter Ads relating to cryptocurrency. Under this new policy, the advertisement of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and token sales will be prohibited globally,” Twitter said.
