- Coinbase has launched Smart Wallet which it had promised in February
- The exchange intends to use the wallet to ease access to DeFi and simplify crypto wallet usage
- The exchange is offering a maximum of $15,000 in gas credits to developers who’ll link to the wallet in their creations
Crypto exchange Coinbase has honored a promise it made in February to launch Smart Wallet to ease access to the DeFi world, especially for new users. The exchange announced incentives such as gas credits to developers who’ll integrate the wallet into their creations. Coinbase disclosed that Smart Wallet allows users to create a new wallet using “Face ID, a Google Chrome profile, Yubikey, fingerprint” etc, a feature that will bring the ease of doing business in the web2 space to the web3 world.
Developers to Cover Gas Costs
According to the exchange, the wallet brings a host of advantages including allowing app developers to cover gas costs for users and supporting usage across “thousands of popular on-chain apps.”
The wait is over. Smart wallets are here. pic.twitter.com/jtXUNu1dq3
— Coinbase Wallet 🛡️ (@CoinbaseWallet) June 5, 2024
Coinbase noted that it has “a companion web app” that will help manage the wallet. Developers linking the wallet to their apps are eligible to participate in the on-chain summer event on the exchange’s Ethereum scaling layer Base.
Coinbase’s senior product manager Siddharth Coelho-Prabhu noted that the wallet comes to increase the speed of transactions and lower transaction fees by offering everything under one roof.
Coelho-Prabhu added that they’ll build extra tools to enable Coinbase Wallet users to natively access Smart Wallet features. According to the Coinbase executive, they intend to “bring more than one billion users on-chain” through the new wallet.
WhatsApp Crypto Transfers
The Coinbase Smart Wallet adds to other attempts by the exchange to simplify interaction with cryptocurrencies. In December last year, for example, it enabled WhatsApp crypto transfers using Coinbase Wallet.
The exchange also believes that using blockchain to pay for goods and services could have saved merchants and individuals $74 billion in credit card transaction fees in 2022.
With Coinbase easing the creation and usage of a crypto wallet, Smart Wallet is likely to gain traction among new and veteran crypto users.
