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The company’s app policy has changed allowing developers to use “approved virtual currencies” in its online store.
Apps which let you make payments using bitcoin could soon be available in Apple’s app store.
The company’s app policy has changed allowing developers to use “approved virtual currencies”.
Apple has not published a list of approved currencies yet, but it is likely to include popular cryptocurrency bitcoin.
Until now, Apple has removed apps which enable virtual currency payments, explaining that a currency must be legal in all markets in which the app is available.
The new app store review guidelines say that “apps may facilitate transmission of approved virtual currencies provided that they do so in compliance with all state and federal laws for the territories in which the app functions.”
Virtual currencies use software to generate “coins” by using a series of computers to carry out complicated mathematical operations.
The value of a bitcoin peaked in November last year at $1,000 (£596) but later slumped.
A bitcoin is now worth around $650 (£388).
In contrast to Apple’s strict approach, Google has many Android apps which support different virtual currencies.
Apple may be late to the bitcoin boom – a number of developers have already built bitcoin wallets that work in a user’s web browser.
