Coinbase has finally announced support for Bitcoin and SegWit transactions on their iOS and Android wallet apps.
In a launch blog post on Tuesday, the exchange said that the “new wallet update with Bitcoin support will roll out to all users on iOS and Android over the next week. Bitcoin support is activated by default – all you need to do is tap ‘Receive’ on the main wallet tab and select Bitcoin to send BTC to your Coinbase Wallet.”
The Coinbase Wallet app already supports Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, and over 100,000 different ERC-20 tokens and ERC-721 collectables tokens (on the Ethereum network).
We're excited to launch Bitcoin (BTC) support on Coinbase Wallet! 🎉 https://t.co/201StMYY0v pic.twitter.com/78fwBnifDc
— Coinbase Wallet 🛡️ (@CoinbaseWallet) February 5, 2019
Self-sovereignty on Coinbase
The Coinbase Wallet app is Coinbase’s user-controlled cryptocurrency wallet. Users can buy and store crypto directly on Coinbase.com, but with the Coinbase Wallet app, users can store their crypto off-site on their own smartphones. This works as the private keys are generated and stored directly on your phone.
Using the Coinbase Wallet app, your private keys are encrypted on your phone using Coinbase’s ‘secure enclave technology.’ The exchange claim that “this specialized hardware is considered the most secure way to safeguard private data on mobile devices.”
From what Coinbase has said, it does not seem that the exchange has access to funds stored on the mobile wallet app, and therefore these funds are fully custodial to the user (and therefore not insured by the exchange).
Supporting SegWit and Legacy address formats
Coinbase went on to say that the new Coinbase Wallet app supports both new SegWit addresses (with lower transaction fees) as well as Legacy addresses for backwards compatibility with all applications.
The wallet also supports the Bitcoin testnet to aid developers and power users. You can switch to the testnet using the advanced settings section in the settings tab on the app.
Coinbase concluded that it is looking to add support for Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and other popular cryptocurrencies soon.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.