ShapeShift App Removes Several Altcoins To Gain Apple’s Approval

A new update to the mobile Shapeshift application is creating some bad blood between Bitcoin community members. As it turns out, the new iOS update has removed several coins which are not supported by Apple. While it is understandable the company does so; they are dropping part of their community to please “corporate overlords”. Not the decision some people had expected.

ShapeShift Does an 180 On Some Coins

Over the past few days, it has become evident Apple is not a big fan of cryptocurrency. Or to be more precise, there are a fair few coins they consider to be “scams”, even though they are legitimate projects. The Jaxx wallet on iOS is still in the App Store, but was asked to take out Dash and Ethereum Classic. DAO is not an issue for the tech giant.

A similar incident occurred with the Shapeshift app which allows users to instantly convert between the supported cryptocurrencies. The platform supports several dozen coins, not all of which seem to be legitimate projects. However, this decision seems to revolve around these three same coins, as ShapeShift also supports Dash and Ethereum Classic.

Although a lot of people might have expected Shapeshift to ignore Apple’s warning and do everything they can to get the app approved, things worked out a bit differently. The company gave in to Apple’s demands, and effectively removed coins which are not officially supported by the technology giant.

A rather strange decision, given ShapeShift’s nature of not necessarily playing ball when it comes to guidelines and restrictions. The company no longer serves New York residents after the BitLicense debacle, which showed an anarchistic nature. This new decision is in stark contrast to what many people had believed the company turned into.

Gaining App Store compliance is a must for any application targeting iOS users. However, removing supported coins to do so may not have been the smartest business decision ever made. Several altcoin communities will not be too pleased with this decision. ShapeShift was in a position to solve the problem, rather than give in to these odd demands by Apple.

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