Wired reported Wednesday night that Apple took the Internet’s most popular Bitcoin wallet app out of its App Store, cryptically citing “an unresolved issue.”
The app has a user base of about 120,000 people. If you already have the app downloaded, you can still use it, but no updates will be available from the App Store.
And if you are running iOS and want to download the app, sorry for your luck.
The Blockchain app, until Wednesday, had been the only Bitcoin wallet app available to iOS users. Apple had previously booted out wallet apps from BitPak and Coinbase.
The heads of Blockchain.info took to the site’s blog to lambaste Apple:
“The rebels no longer run the show at Apple Inc, the beancounters are now firmly in charge.”
The post continues:
“These actions by Apple once again demonstrate the anti-competitive and capricious nature of the App Store policies that are clearly focused on preserving Apple’s monopoly on payments rather than based on any consideration of the needs and desires of their users.
“The blockchain application is the same one that has been on the App Store for 2 years, with more than 120,000 downloads, no customer complaints, and a broad user base. The only thing that has changed is that bitcoin has become competitive to Apple’s own payment system. ”
In another response, self-proclaimed cyberpunk Kyle Drake launched an IndieGogo campaign to develop an open-source HTML 5 Bitcoin wallet that’s immune to Apple’s heavy-handedness.