Note: You don't need a Coinbase account to use the Base app. You can sign up for Base without an email address or bank account.
Coinbase is a secure online platform for buying, selling, transferring, and storing cryptocurrency. Once you make a purchase on Coinbase.com, your crypto is stored on the platform. Coinbase is an exchange, acting as a custodian that manages your private keys on your behalf.
The Base app, on the other hand, is a self-custody wallet. This means that the private keys, which represent ownership of your crypto, are stored directly on your device. You can think of a Base wallet as similar to a traditional wallet that holds your cash, meaning you have direct access to and control of your crypto assets without needing to go through the exchange platform.
You can also set up a Dapp wallet on Coinbase. This is a crypto wallet where Coinbase holds half of your private key and the device that your dapp wallet is on stores the other half.