Apple is driving away its own Bitcoin wallet

For years, speculation has circulated that Apple may create its own wallet for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and with the discovery a few weeks ago, this idea seemed to have been strengthened.

In fact, in early April, it was discovered that the Bitcoin Whitepaper PDF was included in every copy of macOS starting in 2018.

Although this was just a covert inclusion, likely the result of the independent initiative of an individual developer within the company and not the company itself, it had suggested that Apple might have changed its mind about cryptocurrencies.

Moreover, there had also been speculation in December that Apple would open up its ecosystem to cryptos and NTFs as well, thanks to new EU regulations.

In other words, everything seemed ready for a possible step forward by the company in this regard, but instead came a step back.

The removal of Bitcoin’s whitepaper PDF

Yesterday, dedicated Mac news site 9to5mac.com reported that Apple has removed the Bitcoin Whitepaper from the latest macOS beta, called Ventura.

So after the discovery in early April, the company ran for cover by removing that PDF file, likely precisely in response to the speculation sparked by that news about their possible move into the crypto world.

Apple has never officially revealed why Satoshi Nakamoto’s whitepaper was present in macOS, but 9to5mac claims that it was probably just some kind of joke by the engineers who worked on building the operating system.

To tell the truth, the PDF was not simply removed, or replaced with another PDF file, but disappeared because Apple removed the internal tool called VirtualScanner that contained the PDF.

According to 9to5mac, the hidden tool should never have been discovered and made public, and it had not yet been removed in 2018 because it did not include sensitive information.

So Apple didn’t go back on the inclusion of the Bitcoin Whitepaper in macOS, but it removed a hidden tool that contained it and that it probably just forgot to remove earlier.

Despite this, it seems unlikely that the news of the white paper’s inclusion in macOS did not play a key role in this case, in part because someone may have known about VirtualScanner’s existence even before it was made public that it contained Satoshi’s PDF.

The long history between Apple and Bitcoin

So far, the company has always kept its distance from Bitcoin and the crypto world, although over the years there seemed to be a glimmer of rapprochement.

For example, in May two years ago it was discovered that Apple was looking for a business development manager in the “alternative payments” sector, which had hinted at an entry into the crypto sector as a possible technical player.

It is worth noting that the last great bull run was underway at the time, and from 2022 onwards nothing more was heard of this.

However, in November 2021, it was discovered that the company’s current CEO, Tim Cook, had invested in cryptocurrencies. In fact, he had even stated that everyone should be watching the crypto sector with interest.

This seemed like a real, definitive opening, but it was apparently not followed up on.

It is probably no coincidence at all that these supposed openings happened precisely in 2021, when the hype towards cryptocurrencies was very high. In fact, with the bear market of 2022 everything fell back.

It’s worth mentioning that, for now, the company doesn’t seem to have objected yet to linking Apple Pay Wallet to crypto debit cards, which actually allow people to pay in cryptocurrencies using the wallet, albeit indirectly.

Apple’s wallet: only fintech, but no crypto

In reality, Apple’s wallet, which allows payment with various credit and debit cards, is not a crypto wallet at all, either directly or indirectly.

Indirectly related to crypto are some debit cards that allow fiat currency payments that can be topped up using cryptocurrencies.

So it is these that are connected to the crypto world, and not Apple’s wallet, which only withdraws money in fiat currency from crypto debit cards.

However, what creates food for thought is the fact that the company is not opposed to this kind of use of the wallet, although it has been known for some time now.

So while it doesn’t seem like Apple has yet made any concrete steps to enter the crypto sector, it seems they don’t want to oppose these new technologies.

If anything, it is very likely that Apple is studying crypto with interest, which is also shown by the clear, open and direct interest of the CEO.

For now, it does not seem to be possible to rule out in advance that sooner or later Apple’s wallet can also directly integrate Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, although it will most likely take some more time.

The departure hypothesis

At this point, the hypothesis of Apple’s departure from the crypto world does not seem so credible.

The main reason for the possible strengthening of this hypothesis, namely the removal of Bitcoin’s whitepaper, seems to be due more to a desire to remove a tool that should have remained hidden rather than a distance from Bitcoin.

That the company does not object to the use of crypto cards in the wallet reiterates that Apple does not seem to be hostile to the crypto world at all.

While the company stopped revealing details linking it to this world in 2022 when the hype died down, it could get involved again if the hype were to return.

In short, everything suggests that Apple is not distancing itself from Bitcoin at all.

Apple’s possible Bitcoin wallet

Instead, the hypothesis that has been circulating for a while is that Apple may at some point decide to offer its users, especially iPhone users, financial services for crypto trading.

Already to date, there are many Apple users who trade crypto on their iPhones, but use apps that have nothing to do with Apple itself.

This is a real business that the company may want to enter, perhaps through a partnership with some institutional player in the industry, such as Gemini or Coinbase.

To be honest, it seems quite unlikely that Apple will continue to steer clear of crypto markets, although that does not at all mean that they are likely to develop and release their own wallet for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

It is worth noting that the main rival in this regard, Samsung, has already equipped its high-end devices with a crypto wallet, so in case of success, it is extremely difficult to imagine that Apple chooses to leave the field to its competitors.

To date, however, Samsung’s crypto wallet doesn’t seem to have been a huge success, effectively giving Apple the luxury of staying away from it.