Apple has decided to estrange itself to the Bitcoin community - the company has denied a number of apps entry to its App Store for having Bitcoin functionality. Some say it's due to the unclear regulatory issues surrounding the currency.
Regardless, the takeaway is clear - no Bitcoin apps for non-jailbroken iOS users in the foreseeable future.
Or at least until this guy clears his crowdfunding goal.
Kyle Drake is asking the Internet for $55,000 in this Indiegogo campaign to build Coinpunk, an HTML 5 Web app that runs in Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and others to handle all your Bitcoin transactions. By making it platform-agnostic and Web-based, entities like Apple won't be able to block it.
Drake seems to already have a barebones version working. Check out his pitch video below to see him use Coin Punk to buy a Subway sandwich with Bitcoin.
In exchange for your monetary support, Drake is offering stickers, posters, and other perks. But where will that $55,000 go? They explain on their page:
We will use the funds to help developers working on Coinpunk pay living expenses, pay server and development bills, improve coinpunk.com, fund improvements to watch-only address support, and conduct security audits. All of the funds will be stored in a cold wallet Bitcoin address, and we will document where Bitcoins are sent and why (and you will be able to confirm it via blockchain inspection).
Coinpunk HTML5 QR code transaction at Subway in Allentown from Kyle Drake on Vimeo.