Coinbase CEO Armstrong calls out Apple's 'potential antitrust issues'

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase's CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong has called out Apple over "potential antitrust issues" in a recent episode of the Superstream Podcast.

Armstrong appeared on the April 20 episode of Superstream Podcast to talk about the current state of cryptocurrency, entrepreneurship, and the company he co-founded: Coinbase, reports AppleInsider.

Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange platform on desktop and mobile, allowing users to purchase and exchange popular cryptocurrencies. The Coinbase App is the 18th most popular Finance app on the App Store, as pointed out by 9to5mac.

When asked if Coinbase would release its own cryptocurrency hardware wallet, Armstrong pointed out that he does not believe that most people would carry a separate wallet used solely for crypto.

He stated that most people would be more comfortable using something inside of their phones. However, he believes that big tech, and goes as far as naming Apple specifically, does not allow features that would be required to make a user-friendly phone-based wallet plausible.

"Apple so far has not really played nice with crypto, they have actually banned a bunch of features that we would like to have in the app, but they just won't allow it - so there's potential antitrust issues there," he said.

While Armstrong does not say what features have been banned, he does go on to say that he believes crypto-compatible phones will be necessary in the future and that they could become popular.

This is not the first time that Armstrong has spoken out against Apple. In 2020, he argued that Apple's App Store regulations stifle innovation in the cryptocurrency space.

--IANS

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