Bitcoin tipping service Damus removed from Apple App Store

Damus tried to clarify that the tip wasn't used to "unlock content," but to no avail.

Damus, a decentralized social media app based on the Nostr protocol, will be officially removed from the Apple App Store for failing to comply with its Bitcoin tipping service.

Damus said on Twitter on Monday: "It appears that even after updating our app to make it clear that users will not unlock any digital content after receiving a tip, we were removed from the app store." The company said, An appeal will be filed because the motion was "misapplied" against the motion.

Damus allows users to tip their favorite content creators via "zaps" (BTC transfers via Bitcoin's Layer 2 Lightning Network). Built on the Nostr protocol, the app features features reminiscent of the tipping service Twitter will integrate in 2021, including Lightning as a tipping method, while the company is still led by bitcoin bull Jack Dorsey.

Damus' message from Apple says optional gratuities and donations are allowed, but not if related to receiving digital content. It states, "They must use in-app purchases in accordance with guideline 3.1.1."

This denial was met with skepticism from Damus, Bitcoin proponents and all tech leaders including Jack Dorsey himself. "Hints don't unlock content," he said. Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney responded to the company's statement, saying "Apple has to be stopped."

Dorsey has previously praised Nostr as one of only two “really large-scale censorship-resistant technologies,” the other being Bitcoin.

Earlier this month, when Damus received two weeks' notice to modify the tipping service, he called Apple's crackdown "pretty bad" because of the timing. This comes shortly before the company speaks at the Oslo Freedom Forum on the importance of Lightning-based decentralized social networks.

Critics of Damus claim that Apple simply wants the company to "pay a 30% commission" for digital content sold on its platform. In contrast, Damus claims there is no “30%” or “cut” involved, as the payment technology it offers is entirely peer-to-peer.

Damus said last week that "if people can't freely conduct p2p transactions on their platform, it will have a huge impact on the entire ecosystem of Lightning-integrated applications."

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