Google removes cryptocurrency wallet apps from Play Store

Google has silently removed three cryptocurrency wallets from Play Store, The Next Web reported. The move comes after the search engine giant updated its Play Store developer policy, which states:

"We don't allow apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices. We permit apps that remotely manage the mining of cryptocurrency.”

According to the report, Google has removed cryptocurrency wallet apps Bitcoin Wallet (managed by Bitcoin.com), CoPay, and BitPay. Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver said:

“Google told us that it was because they no longer allow crypto currency [sic] mining apps. I have no idea how they came under the impression that our wallet is a mining app.”

Bitcoin.com is back online and BitPay is reportedly working to be on the Play Store again.

CoPay is an open source, HD-multisignature wallet from BitPay. Bitcoin Wallet, which is a direct fork of CoPay, has been downloaded over 1 million times from the Play Store, while BitPay and Copay have been installed over 100,000 times each.

Earlier this month, The Next Web reported that Google had removed MinerGate – an app that originally offered both on-device mining and remote cloud mining management functionality. To comply with Google’s updated policy, MinerGate announced that it has split its mobile app into two different apps, “excluding mining option in one of them. Still, you can download the original version with mining option available.”