Two U.S. lawmakers have sent a letter to Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of American multinational tech giant Apple Inc., over the company's policies on its App Store as it relates to blockchain and crypto innovations.
Lawmakers' concerns
The letter was sent by the duo of Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), with both seeking to know if Apple stifles innovations, especially as it concerns distributed ledger technologies (DLT) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The lawmakers noted that Apple might have used its App Store to reap benefits from the rollout of "Lite" versions while largely reducing the utility of the applications. The lawmakers referenced the struggles faced by Axie Infinity as one of the examples of Apple trying to stifle competition in the blockchain play-2-earn (P2E) gaming world.
"It appears Apple may also use its market dominance in the opposite way, trying to maximize its profits by introducing rules to the App Store that purposefully limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of user experience," the lawmakers said in the letter, adding that "while Apple has argued these rules increase security by creating a walled garden, many are concerned that Apple has used the App Store as a weapon against competitors."
As part of their inquiries, the U.S. lawmakers demanded a couple of questions from the tech giant, seeking to know about its future updates and policies as it applies to its core interests.
Blockchain apps need additional permissions
It is not uncommon to find crypto apps and blockchain innovations face restrictions considering both the lack of regulatory clarity in the industry and the protection of legacy gaming apps from the competition.
Though some crypto games have gone live on these app stores, the obvious antagonism has pushed many crypto innovators to push for a decentralized App Store that will offer independence from the options provided by the duo of Apple and Google.