San Francisco, Dec 2 (IANS): Leading crypto exchange Coinbase has accused Apple of forcing it to remove NFT (non-fungible token) transfers from its iOS Wallet application.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Coinbase Wallet: "You might have noticed you can't send NFTs on Coinbase Wallet iOS anymore. This is because Apple blocked our last app release until we disabled the feature.

"Simply put, Apple has introduced new policies to protect their profits at the expense of consumer investment in NFTs and developer innovation across the crypto ecosystem.

"We hope this is an oversight on Apple's behalf and an inflection point for further conversations with the ecosystem. Apple, we're here and want to help."

As Apple updated its App Store review guidelines in October, the iPhone maker informed Coinbase that it could no longer use the NFT transfer protocol in its existing form.

The guideline mentioned that the applications "may allow users to view their own NFTs, provided that NFT ownership does not unlock features or functionality within the app".

"Apps may allow users to browse NFT collections owned by others, provided that the apps may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase," it added.