Bitcoin-supporting chat app Wiper yanked from App Store in China

Posted On 16 Mar 2015

Tag: app store, Manilo Carrelli, Support for Bitcoin transactions, Underbanked global population, Wiper

Chat application Wiper, designed to give users control over their sent and received messages, recently introduced support for Bitcoin transactions between its users.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Wiper CEO Manilo Carrelli said the application was “removed from the iOS App Store in China due to violating that app store’s policies,” and that “Apple [had] explained to [the company] by phone that this violation was related to Wiper enabling Bitcoin payments.”

The app’s core functionality is that users can delete messages with other users on a case-by-case basis. According to Carrelli, when a conversation is deleted, it is removed from both users’ phones, along with “any temporary record kept on Wiper servers,” reported TechCrunch.

Wiper believes that Bitcoin will help the underbanked global population who do not have access to mobile phones. The company estimates there are approximately 2.5 billion people who meet that criteria. Carrelli says applications like Wiper are “a simple, intuitive way to introduce better financial tools.” He told TechCrunch that remittances are an obvious case-use for Bitcoin.

According to a recently released Goldman Sachs report, approximately 80 percent of Bitcoin transactions at current tip are associated with the Chinese yuan. The US dollar is the second most popular currency for Bitcoin-denominated transactions with traditional currencies.

Image credit: Xboy 6

About the Author

Katherine Fletcher is a writer and editor based in London, Ontario, Canada. With a graduate degree in journalism, Katherine spent more than five years curating news on Canadian higher education for a marketing consultancy. Her interest in reporting on Bitcoin stems from her belief that digital currency is, and will continue to be, a disruptor in how we conceive modern currency.