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This reminds me of the last time Coinbase had its app removed from the app store in 2013. Our secure messaging app, Gliph, had the ability to send bitcoin and
by bredren 4y ago
This reminds me of the last time Coinbase had its app removed from the app store in 2013. Our secure messaging app, Gliph, had the ability to send bitcoin and was still live in the App Store.
Our companies shared an investor, and our app was the first to implement Coinbase's API. Between that and SF Bitcoin meetups, I interacted with Brian regularly enough and the App Store was a common topic because in that first year of funding for crypto, the goal was generally find a way to breaking Bitcoin mainstream. (It seemed like it might happen soon, but was in fact still quite early.)
After some press, Apple took our app down. I blogged about it [0], (I believe the first survey of App Store policy toward bitcoin) and that got picked up by Tech Crunch. [1]
I remember speaking with Brian about it on the phone. Apple's objection was on legality of sending Bitcoin in the regions our app was available, so I suggested we could file a legal brief as part of our appeal.
Brian's response was they had already tried that and that Apple was unswayed by their brief. There wasn't much we could really do other than commiserate on being under the thumb of the App Store.
Those were some heady, yet comparatively innocent days in crypto compared to now.
[0] https://blog.gli.ph/2013/12/09/the-state-of-bitcoin-mobile-applications-in-the-app-store-and-google-play/#more-1066 https://blog.gli.ph/2013/12/09/the-state-of-bitcoin-mobile-a...
[1] https://techcrunch.com/2013/12/09/how-does-apple-really-feel-about-bitcoin https://techcrunch.com/2013/12/09/how-does-apple-really-feel...
- unityByFreedom 4y ago> Apple's objection was on legality of sending Bitcoin in the regions our app was available, so I suggested we could file a legal brief as part of our appeal. > Brian's response was they had already tried that and that Apple was unswayed by their brief. A legal brief would go to a judge. This sounds like an appeal written by a lawyer, submitted on behalf of one company to another. Not the same thing. Or maybe there was a legal case and they filed a brief. Then it would be a judge who decides whether the brief is convincing, not Apple.
- bredren 4y agoThanks for clarifying this. It has been a long time since this happened.
- judge2020 4y agoYou might not have seen it, but Phillip Shoemaker seems to talk specifically about your case: https://youtu.be/tJeEuxn9mug?t=1708 https://youtu.be/tJeEuxn9mug?t=1708 (I recommend watching the entire talk)
- bredren 4y agoIt sounds like he might be talking about this time period. If so, he may be mixing up or mixing together multiple events in retelling what happened. The description of the blog post sounds right, the post went bananas. But I don't remember this rifle video thing, a fast walk back (it took months) though, and we definitely were not the biggest wallet provider. I'd be curious to talk with him about it, though.