Coinbase Prime Web3 Wallet: Everything to Know

By  Beluga Research October 30, 2023

Image for Coinbase Prime Web3 Wallet: Everything to Know

Summary

  • Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has a institutional and enterprise web3 wallet
  • The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet is designed to cater to institutional and enterprise clients
  • The web3 wallet supports decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
  • The wallet provides a secure and user-friendly experience, which is something Coinbase is known for

Overview

Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has a web3 wallet. The wallet is designed for institutional and corporate clients interested in investing in decentralized finance (DeFi) non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet features robust security measures, including two-factor authentication (2FA), which helps to protect clients' assets from theft and unauthorized access.

The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet provides users with security and a user-friendly experience, allowing them to store, manage and trade cryptocurrencies in a single platform. It also supports DeFi protocols such as Uniswap, Aave and Compound.

A Brief History

Coinbase was founded in 2012 as a platform for buying, selling and storing cryptocurrencies. Since then, it has become one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Coinbase has over fifty-six million verified users across more than 100 countries and offers many services, including trading, staking, lending and more.

Coinbase Prime was initially launched as a platform for institutional investors. It provides advanced trading features such as margin trading, over-the-counter (OTC) trading and custody services for institutional clients. In September 2023, Coinbase launched the web3 wallet for institutional clients, designed to make it easier for institutional investors to participate in the web3 ecosystem.

Coinbase Prime Web3 Wallet: Everything to Know

The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet is an institutional-grade wallet that provides access to crypto, NFTs, decentralized applications (dapps) and DeFi. The wallet employs Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology, which gives customers complete control over assets as a non-custodial wallet. Specifically, it allows users to store tokens, including those not yet available on Prime Custody, as long as they are from a compatible network.

The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet provides a secure and user-friendly experience that makes it easy for users to manage cryptocurrencies. The launch of this wallet is a significant expansion of Coinbase Prime's offerings and shows that the platform is committed to providing institutional investors access to the latest crypto technologies.

Getting Started

  1. Create a Coinbase Prime Account - If a user does not have a Coinbase Prime account, they must create one by visiting the official website.
  2. Log in to Coinbase Prime Account - Once the user has created an account, they must log in to the Coinbase Prime account.
  3. Access the web3 Wallet - After logging in, the user can access the web3 wallet directly from the existing Prime account.
  4. Store Assets - The user can store assets on nine supported networks, including NFTs and DeFi tokens. Separate tabs are available for an aggregate view of NFTs and DeFi positions.
  5. Trade and Swap - The user can trade over 33,000 tokens and swap across six significant chains.

Unique Aspects

  • Built for Enterprise Clients - The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet is designed to meet the needs of institutional and enterprise customers. It provides a secure and user-friendly experience that makes it easy for users to manage cryptocurrencies and is fully integrated into the Coinbase Prime platform.
  • Intuitive Risk Controls - Advanced security features such as 2FA, biometric authentication and more are provided by the Coinbase Prime web3 wallet. It also uses multi-signature technology, which requires multiple signatures before any transaction can be executed, and provides intuitive risk controls that limit user transactions.
  • Convenient and Resilient Device Recovery - Convenient and resilient device recovery options are offered with the Coinbase Prime web3 wallet which allow users to recover lost devices. The wallet uses a combination of seed phrases and biometric authentication to ensure that only the rightful owner can access the wallet.
  • DEX Aggregation - The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet allows users to swap assets with a built-in swap feature. This feature searches over seventy-five decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms for the best pricing available, making it easy for users to trade cryptocurrencies

Advantages

  • Security - The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet provides advanced security features such as 2FA, biometric authentication through Touch ID and Face ID, and more. It also uses multi-signature technology, which requires multiple signatures before any transaction can be executed.
  • User-Friendly Interface - The user-friendly interface provided by the Coinbase Prime web3 wallet makes it easy for users to manage cryptocurrencies. It also provides real-time price updates, allowing users to track investments.
  • Compliance - Clients can customize workflows to control which users can initiate, approve and sign transactions. This makes the Coinbase Prime web3 wallet ideal for institutions with complex compliance requirements.
  • One-Stop Shop for web3 - Clients are provided access through the Coinbase Prime web3 wallet to a wide range of features, including crypto trading and custody, NFT management, DeFi interactions, dapp browsing and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) participation. This makes the wallet a one-stop shop for clients who want to participate in the web3 ecosystem.
  • Scalability - The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet is designed to scale to meet the needs of institutional investors and corporations. It can handle large volumes of transactions and support a large number of users.

Disadvantages

  • Not Fully Open Source - The overall software of the Coinbase Prime web3 wallet is not open source, which may deter some users who prefer wallet software to be fully open source. Specifically, these users may want to test the security of the code without putting trust in the wallet's developers.
  • Limited Support for Networks - Currently, only nine networks are supported by the Coinbase Prime web3 wallet. Therefore, if users want to store tokens on a network that is not supported, they will have to use a different wallet.
  • Limited Availability - The Coinbase Prime web3 wallet is currently only available to institutional and enterprise clients, which means that it is not yet accessible to individual investors.
  • Regulatory Uncertainties - The regulatory landscape surrounding cryptocurrencies and web3 technologies is still evolving. This could lead to potential legal and compliance challenges in the future.