According to the latest announcement from Coinbase, its self-custodial wallet product, which has been named Coinbase Wallet, will now come with a messaging service.
People will now be able to use the service for sending encrypted messages and Coinbase collaborated with XMTP, the startup based in Texas, for developing the messaging service in question.
The feature
The open-source Web3 messaging network of the company will be used for the messaging service and Coinbase issued a press release saying that it was a new method for promoting crypto engagement.
The exchange also announced that the messaging service would initially be available only to a small number of Coinbase users.
The messaging service integrated in Coinbase Wallet will leverage XMTP’s network and all human-readable Ethereum addresses are supported.
Not only do these include wallet addresses that are made up of a string of characters, but also those using the Ethereum Name Service (ENS).
Those who use Coinbase Wallet already have the option of creating personalized wallet labels, as the crypto exchange collaborated with ENS for creating Coinbase Decentralized ID.
Securing an ENS domain will incur charges, but those who prefer to use Coinbase Decentralized ID can create labels for free.
Web3 benefits
One of the main benefits of Web3 as opposed to established internet structures is that it provides users with greater control over their data.
This applies in the case of the new messaging service as well, as Coinbase announced that users will be able to transfer their data to other apps that XMTP supports, such as Orb and Lenster.
The CEO and co-founder of XMTP, Matt Galligan, said that the inbox of the end user boasts portability and can be integrated with all supported apps, so recipients do not have to worry about what the sender is using.
The difference
Signal and Telegram are two encrypted messaging services that have already garnered a lot of popularity in the crypto space.
However, the messaging feature that will now be offered with Coinbase Wallet will also enable users to make crypto payments, which would be similar to the Cash App from Block or Venmo from PayPal.
At the launch of the messaging service, Coinbase revealed that thousands of coins are supported by the new feature and no gas fee would be charged for conducting transactions in the USDC stablecoin from Circle.
According to Galligan, Coinbase decided to collaborate with XMTP to take advantage of existing technology for supporting its Web3 values.
The crypto exchange has done something similar with Optimism for developing Base, its layer-2 scaling network based on Ethereum.
Galligan went on to say that working with XMTP shows that the crypto exchange is dedicated to embracing decentralization and wants to build on the top protocols that exist.
Instead of developing its own, Coinbase has now entered into partnerships with those that are part of the same ecosystem.
The self-custody wallet had first been launched by Coinbase back in 2017 and over time, additional features have been added to it, including security and safety measures.