• Last reviewed version
• 13.2
• published April 21st, 2019

Coinbase Wallet, previously known as Toshi Wallet, is a multi-chain wallet relatively recently acquired by Coinbase. It comes with its own dapp browser and supports multiple blockchain protocols.

The wallet and dapp browser are standard fare. There's the basic web3 injection for Ethereum dapps in the dapp browser with the ability to bookmark your favorites. The selection of pre-added ones is rich, but hardly unique. It's the same set we're seeing everywhere: MakerDAO, Compound, CryptoKitties...

Multi-account support

Coinbase wallet neither shows transactions for accounts, nor does it let you easily switch or import via private keys.

A full logout with a re-entry of the recovery phrase is required to switch accounts, and it is not possible to enter a different derivation path which means assets sent to m/44'/60'/0'/0/1 rather than m/44'/60'/0'/0/0 are lost until the wallet is opened in another app that supports this.

Coinbase Wallet further complicates matters by introducing a username feature which is never actually used for anything, but can still prevent you from opening a wallet as the app will warn you the “username has been taken”. This is additionally odd due to the fact that a wallet shouldn’t be stored on any server in any way, so it is not known what Coinbase is actually doing there.

This application also has a pretty serious privacy leak in that it does not clear browser cache when you log out and log in again with a new passphrase, meaning your previous visits can be logged and your various identities linked.

From a user-experience side, the wallet is quite simple with big buttons and simple colors, and should be intuitive for even the most uninitiated blockchain user. The ability to authorize every transaction with a fingerprint dramatically reduces complexity. However, the UI does also suffer from some glitches and the app will lock up and crash from time to time. It happened to me 3 times in 10 minutes, enough to become frustrating to use.

There's no ENS support, so you need to input full recipient addresses. Curiously, the app greets you with a message saying you'll be able to send money to other people simply using their Coinbase Wallet username, and you're even prompted to register one in the beginning, but this never appears again in any context, and I couldn't figure out how to use it.

The application seems to be partially open source, at least some of its past components. I say "past" because it used to contain reputation management and chat - both of which used centralized servers - but those features now seem to be missing from the app.

For merchant uses, the app wouldn't be much use outside of Bitcoin. While there is BIP-21 support, there is no full EIP-681 support and there's no way to even see past transactions of your account. So if you receive or send a tx, you'll have to look it up by checking your address elsewhere, as there's not even a way to get a TX ID from Coinbase Wallet, a big UX negative. The QR code reader also stops working from time to time, simply not even recognizing QR codes other wallets have no problems with.

For an app which started as an open source project, it's sad to see it close its doors to developers with not only the closing of its source code, but also the fact that custom nodes and RPC endpoints cannot be added into the app at all. It depends on Infura and as such is quite censorable and breakable.

There is no KYC, but there is the option to combine your Coinbase account with the Wallet in order to be able to pull money from it directly without manually sending.

This means that any KYC you provided to Coinbase is now available to the developers of Coinbase Wallet, and that Coinbase also have information on your other tokens, if you used them in this app prior to linking accounts. Tread carefully.

Coinbase wallet will auto-detect any ERC20 and ERC721 tokens you receive, so you can play with even the most exotic ones. Case in point:

The app is currently available on Android and iOS, and though it bears the Coinbase name, it is not available as part of Coinbase's web UI. With another layer or two of polish, Coinbase Wallet could be the next Trust Wallet in terms of usability and user experience, but it sadly drags its feet in a way that's reminiscent of a hostile takeover for the sake of competition elimination, not acquisition. It's not clear what Coinbase intends to do with this app, but one thing is obvious - this is not a finished product. What's not obvious is - why.