On March 26, a California judge threw out a class action lawsuit against Apple, which alleged that the company imposed restrictions on third-party crypto payments. District Judge Vince Chhabria cited various issues with the complaint, including a lack of evidence for agreements between Apple and other payment services.

He also questioned the claim that these agreements hindered decentralized crypto transactions, suggesting it wasn't clear if such agreements would violate antitrust laws.

Additionally, the judge found flaws in the allegations of antitrust standing, noting speculative connections between Apple's actions and any resulting harm to plaintiffs who claimed they paid inflated fees due to these agreements. The lawsuit also faced challenges with its definition of the relevant market, as the plaintiffs excluded Zelle, a payment app, from their definition. Despite giving plaintiffs 21 days to amend the case, the judge suggested that such amendments were unlikely to alter the lawsuit's outcome.

However, if the plaintiffs fail to make amendments by the deadline, the case will be dismissed without prejudice. The lawsuit, filed in November 2023, accused PayPal's Venmo, Google Pay, Cash App, and Apple Cash of agreeing to Apple's store guidelines, which allegedly prevented them from supporting decentralized crypto transactions.

Apple had requested the dismissal of the class action lawsuit in February, reiterating many of the same arguments upheld by the judge's recent dismissal. In their defense, Apple argued that the plaintiffs' claims were factually incorrect, pointing out that there are apps in the App Store facilitating decentralized crypto transactions.

They also stated that the particular rule cited by the plaintiffs, App Store Guideline 3.1.5, doesn't categorically prohibit apps offering decentralized crypto transactions, as it only requires third-party apps to handle transactions through an approved exchange. Initially, the plaintiffs contended that this rule contradicted decentralization by mandating the involvement of intermediary exchanges.