The Web3 wallet is a crypto wallet where Coinbase holds half of your private keys and the device that your Web3 wallet is on stores the rest. This solution:
Provides you the convenience to easily access your wallet
Provides an added layer of security by not having all of your keys stored in one location
Shares the responsibility of knowing and storing your security key for your wallet between you and Coinbase, making wallet recovery more simple.
Coinbase will provide you with your own web3 wallet as a way for you to easily trade tokens that can only be found on DEX’s, as well as to interact with DEXs and various other decentralized applications on the web3 browser.
Web3 wallet currently supports Ethereum, Polygon, and Base networks
Double-check that Web3 wallet supports the network you are receiving assets from, otherwise you won’t be able to access these assets
Sending or receiving unsupported assets through Web3 wallet will cause you to lose them.
Note that this does not impact support of the listed tokens on Coinbase.com or your primary balance on the Coinbase app
Note:
Coinbase is not affiliated with, and does not endorse any third-party DEX or dapp. Coinbase is not responsible for any lost funds when interacting with a DEX or dapp.
In addition to supporting ERC-20 token transfers on Ethereum, the Web3 wallet now supports USDC and MATIC token transfers on Polygon network.
By comparison, your Coinbase primary wallet is a custodial wallet used on your main Coinbase account. With the primary wallet, your cryptocurrencies are stored on Coinbase.com and can be traded within your Coinbase account at fast speeds and for lower network fees.
The Coinbase primary wallet cannot be used to trade DEX tokens or access dapps. You can access your Web3 wallet by accessing the Explore tab within your Coinbase account.
Do I need to have a Web3 wallet setup before I can trade on a DEX?
Yes. If you are trading on a DEX for the first time through your Coinbase account you will first be prompted to create a Web3 wallet before you can begin trading.
As soon as you select a token that you want to trade that is not currently available on your Coinbase account, we will automatically create a new Web3 wallet for you and request that you transfer ETH to that wallet so that you can make the trade through a DEX where that token is available.
Once your web3 wallet has been created, you are free to use it to execute future DEX trades or to interact with NFT, gaming or other trading dapps on our web3 browser.