Cash App

Apple is facing the wrath of crypto users yet again as a popular Bitcoin Lightning wallet disappeared from its U.S.-facing App Store.

Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning payments app Wallet of Satoshi (WoS) has disappeared from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store in the United States as it closes in on over 1 million transactions for November.

On Nov. 24, several users and crypto community participants shared on X (Twitter) their attempts to search for the WoS app, which turned up no results or redirected users to competing wallet apps.

Wallet of Satoshi banned in the US? pic.twitter.com/S44qN5UI2U

— ck (@ck_SNARKs) November 23, 2023

However, the WoS app still appeared for download on the Australian Apple App Store and the Australian and Singapore Google Play Store versions at the time of writing.

Wallet of Satoshi is a popular Lightning payments platform that is on pace to process over 1.1 million Lightning payments in November, according to industry author and podcaster Kevin Rooke.

Wallet of Satoshi is on pace to process over 1.1 million Lightning payments in November.

This will be their largest month of Lightning payments ever.

⚡️ pic.twitter.com/oCxIce7kit

— Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) November 22, 2023

Rooke added that it would be the firm’s “largest month of Lightning payments ever.”

Apple and Wallet of Satoshi did not immediately respond to a request for more details.

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Apple levies a hefty 30% tax on in-app payments, which it maintains a tight leash over and has been a barrier for crypto platforms wanting an App Store presence.

On Nov. 17, a group of disgruntled PayPal Venmo and Block Cash App users filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple, claiming the company had entered into anti-competitive agreements with PayPal and Block to restrict the use of crypto technology and payments on iOS.

Apple has a history of removing crypto apps, with the firm delisting the Nostr-based Damus app over a Bitcoin tip feature in June. It also briefly pulled the MetaMask wallet app from its App Store in October.

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Apple faces a class action over alleged anti-competitive conduct in the iOS peer-to-peer payments market.

Disgruntled consumers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple claiming the tech giant has conspired to limit peer-to-peer payment options on its devices and block crypto technology from iOS payments apps.

The Nov. 17 complaint filed in a California District Court alleges Apple entered into anti-competitive agreements with PayPal’s Venmo and Block’s Cash App to restrict the use of decentralized cryptocurrency technology in payment apps, which caused users to pay "rapidly inflating prices."

“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 filing says.

The plaintiffs also claimed Apple uses “technological and contractual restraints,” including hardware-enforced App Store exclusivity and “contractual limitations on web browser technology” to “exercise unfettered control over every app installed and run on iPhones and iPads.”

With these restraints, Apple can — and does — force new to market iOS P2P payment apps to bar crypto "as a condition for entry," the suit claimed.

The plaintiffs describe themselves as customers who have paid inflated fees due to Apple’s restraints of trade across the iOS P2P payment market.

They seek to recover for excessive fees and overcharging due to Apple’s alleged anticompetitive conduct and injunctive relief barring the firm from continuing to enter into and enforce anticompetitive agreements restraining iOS P2P Payment Market competitors and would-be entrants.

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The 58-page class action details the history and rise of peer-to-peer payment apps and decentralized cryptocurrencies and Apple’s entry into this market.

In April, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Apple violated California’s competition laws by not allowing apps to direct users to non-Apple linked payment solutions.

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