Smart Wallet

The Smart Wallet is one of the unique ways in which Base in collaboration with Coinbase is enhancing the user experience for any user on Base. As it is designed by an institution that knows both retail and institutions, it is designed to cater to both and make interacting on-chain feel as seamless as Coinbase itself.

The most prominent feature of the Smart Wallet is that it enables users to create an account (read: wallet) within seconds without downloading any app or extension. It combines instant onboarding of users with abstracting away all the complexities that usually come with a wallet. By doing so, the Smart Wallet tackles two problems at once: simple onboarding, and a familiar way of storing an account.

This is made possible because of how users interact with Smart Wallet, which is with a simple account secured with a passkey. The passkey is ‘key’ to the seamless user experience. It is tied to one’s log-in for Apple, Google, or Microsoft, and can therefore be used and synchronised on any of your devices with that account. It is not owned, stored or accessed by Coinbase, but by the selected provider. This passkey can then be used to access the wallet and sign transactions, with touch or faceID. And when we say wallet, we do indeed mean an on-chain wallet.

This wallet that users create can be used across multiple networks -if a user ever switches- and users won’t even know they are using a different network than Base. On Base, the Smart Wallet does offer some advanced functionalities when interacting on-chain. The first is that users can use their balance on Coinbase for their on-chain interactions. No longer do users have to fund their wallets or bridge over assets. With Smart Wallet, they can keep it in their Coinbase account. Additionally, Smart Wallet allows users to set a periodic allowance that can be spent on-chain with Spend Permissions. Instead of an allowance for kids, it is an allowance for apps. This way, a user does not see constant transactions and their fees when interacting with an app; the app takes care of that (although it does come from the user’s balance).

These are just the first steps from Base and Coinbase for Smart Wallet. They will continue to develop and bring out new features and functionalities for Smart Wallet to further enhance the user experience. Over time, it will be as seamless that it will not be ‘on-chain’ anymore; it will be just personal finance.