On Monday (October 12), crypto exchange Coinbase announced that its non-custodial crypto wallet app can now be used not just for holding digital assets but buying them as well directly from within the app.
In a blog post published yesterday, Group Product Manager Sid Coelho-Prabhu explained the motivation for this new feature:
“Wallet allows users in every part of the world to store their own crypto and use popular dapps like Compound and Uniswap.
“However, until now, anyone new to crypto had to buy their first cryptocurrency from an exchange, and then transfer it over manually to their Wallet apps.
“This created a lengthy and complicated onboarding experience for new Wallet users who are excited to get started with the open financial system.”
Coinbase’s blog post says that Coinbase Wallet app users can now “sign-up for and purchase cryptocurrencies from Coinbase.com right within their Wallet apps.”
Currently, this feature is only available to the users of the Android version of the Coinbase Wallet app who are living in the U.S., but Coinbase plans to add support for iOS and support for other countries in the near future.
Also, at present, users of the app can pay for crypto only using debit card, but Coinbase is promising that soon more payment methods will be supported.
But what about existing users of Coinbase Consumer (i.e. Coinbase.com)?
Apparently, these customers “can also link to their Wallet accounts, and the feature is completely optional.”