Overview
Smart wallets live in your browser. You can onboard directly from apps with no app or extension installs necessary, while maintaining security. Using passkeys, there is no need to manage a recovery phrase, and the wallet is available cross-devices if you use a cloud-based or hardware passkey. Access smart wallet via web or mobile web, not the Coinbase app or extension.
Smart wallet is accessible as one unified account across apps in the ecosystem so you can take your assets with you wherever you go.
Additionally, you can use wallet.coinbase.com as a balance management portal and your home for all things onchain whenever you need to see your assets, transactions, or explore new opportunities. You can also perform basic wallet functions like swapping and sending at wallet.coinbase.com.
Smart wallet also comes equipped with the ability to allow apps to pay for your network fees for you, or provide unique services like batching of transactions together to help you save on network fees. For more technical information on these capabilities, you can check out EIP-5792: Wallet Call API.
FAQs
Smart wallet allows you to create a wallet in seconds with no extension or app installs. You can also utilize your Coinbase balances onchain without having to fund your wallet first (for ETH on Base purchases only to start), interact with sites and apps that sponsor your cost of gas, and use your wallet across apps in the ecosystem.
The Coinbase Wallet app and extension do not yet support the smart wallet, but do have greater chain coverage. They support Bitcoin, Solana, and also custom networks. They are also good choices if you are transacting primarily on the Ethereum network, rather than a lower cost network such as Base.
Smart wallet supports major low-cost chains, including:
Base
Optimism
Arbitrum
Polygon
Zora
BNB
Avalanche C-Chain
While we support Ethereum Mainnet, we suggest using cost-effective networks like Base due to high smart contract wallet costs.
Network fees on the smart wallet are more expensive on the Ethereum network than the Coinbase Wallet mobile app or chrome extension because it uses smart contracts to power the wallet itself. This means that for each transaction, there are more network fees (also known as gas) required to achieve the result intended.
While the smart contract capability is what gives the smart wallet the ability to provide more features such as the ability to Pay with Coinbase balances in a single transaction, or have network fees sponsored by apps, it also means network fees are a bit higher for each individual transaction. On low-cost networks such as Base this difference is typically very small, but on the Ethereum network the cost can be quite expensive.
To avoid high network fees, we recommend you use the smart wallet primarily on low-cost networks like Base, Optimism, or Polygon, and do not fund or engage with the Ethereum network directly using your smart wallet.
If you wish to interact with a dapp or asset that is only accessible on the Ethereum network, please check out our Chrome extension or mobile app. While Ethereum is still expensive overall compared to other networks, using our chrome extension or mobile app will be less expensive than the smart wallet.
To purchase Bitcoin, other UTXOs such as LTC or DOGE, or use the Solana blockchain, we recommend you download the Coinbase Wallet mobile app or chrome extension.
If you created your wallet with a passkey, you have a smart wallet. If you use the Coinbase Wallet Chrome extension or mobile app, you have a traditional (EOA) wallet.