Coinbase is currently developing two new wallet solutions that are specifically focused on integration and balance transfer for Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) applications. These solutions are aimed at facilitating developers’ onboarding to Coinbase’s layer-2 blockchain, Base.
One of the new features is a smart wallet that enables users to carry their balances across various EVM-compatible applications that are integrated with the Coinbase Wallet SDK. The second feature is an embedded wallet that allows developers to incorporate noncustodial white-labeled wallets into their own applications.
Coinbase’s goal with these features is to address the pain points that developers face when building Web3 products and enhance the overall user experience.
Yuga Cohler, the Senior Engineering Manager at Coinbase Embedded Wallets, highlighted the company’s commitment to continuously improving its product experience based on customer feedback. He explained that the development of the Embedded Wallets has been an ongoing effort for the past year.
This move by Coinbase expands its wallet-as-a-service product line, which enables developers to integrate digital wallets into their applications without having to develop the core technology from scratch. This offering is particularly beneficial for companies that want to incorporate digital assets into their products and services.
The concept of wallet-as-a-service is widely popular in the cryptocurrency space. BitGo, a crypto custodian, offers a similar service that includes both custodial and noncustodial wallets for enterprises.
Both BitGo and Coinbase utilize multiparty computation (MPC) technology to power their solutions. MPC allows multiple participants to compute a result based on their private data without revealing it to each other or any external party. Cohler clarified that this technology operates off-chain and does not use smart contracts. Coinbase has its own in-house MPC protocol.
In a recent development, Coinbase decided to discontinue support for native Bitcoin (BTC) on its merchant payment platform, Coinbase Commerce. The company cited difficulties in delivering updates to its EVM payment protocol for Bitcoin as the reason behind this decision.
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