- Coinbase has launched a Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) product, which offers a programming interface for crypto companies to use and build their custom Web3 digital wallets.
- The WaaS aims to usher the next hundred million people into Web3 by making onboarding as simple as setting a username and password.
Coinbase, the leading US crypto exchange, has launched its Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) suite of offerings aimed at simplifying the process of digital wallet onboarding and potentially adding to the adoption of cryptocurrencies amongst the masses. The WaaS will offer a programming interface for crypto companies to use and build their custom Web3 digital wallets. The service is aimed at making onboarding simple as a username and password, allowing companies to offer their users wallets directly in their apps.
Traditional crypto wallets are known to be difficult for users to access due to their complex mnemonic seeds and counterintuitive user interfaces. Coinbase has highlighted the potential of its WaaS to help bring the “next hundred million customers into Web3 through a seamless wallet-onboarding experience.” By eliminating the technical nature of most standalone digital wallets today, the company aims to make setting up a wallet as easy as creating a username and password.
Enabling Companies to Build Custom Web3 Digital Wallets
Coinbase believes that the WaaS will aid in bringing the “next hundred million consumers into Web3,” which is the next phase of the internet as we know it today. The WaaS could be used by gaming apps where tokens or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are part of the game or by companies that might want to incorporate a wallet into an app and make that “almost invisible to the end user,” according to Patrick McGregor, Coinbase’s head of product for Web3 developer platforms.
Coinbase claims to have loaded this service with a range of scalable and secure infrastructure APIs for companies to choose the best for their crypto wallet services. “Companies can offer their users wallets directly in their apps with onboarding as simple as a username and password.
Whether enabling gamers to trade in-game items and currency or creating new avenues for loyalty programs such as token-based rewards, WaaS is a powerful tool for companies looking to tap into the potential of Web3,” Coinbase wrote in its announcement post.
The company also offers developers a wallet software development kit (SDK), a payments SDK, the commerce API, and other blockchain integrations. Crypto firms such as Tokenproof, Floor, Thirdweb, and Moonray have already tried Coinbase’s WaaS. The company believes that its WaaS will aid in bringing the “next hundred million customers into Web3.”
Partnerships with Household-Name Brands
Coinbase’s WaaS could help companies “to help bring the next hundred million customers into Web3 through a seamless wallet-onboarding experience,” according to a press release. Although Coinbase hasn’t disclosed the names of specific companies that will tap into its WaaS offering beyond Web3-natives, McGregor hinted that larger firms would likely be announced as Coinbase partners.
“I can tell you that we’re working with several household-name brand companies that are going to be using this product at a huge scale,” he said. “This is not a science project. This is the real deal.”
Coinbase’s announcement of the WaaS follows previous news that Coinbase will launch its Ethereum layer-2 network called Base. This platform, it hopes, will become a popular choice among developers for creating and hosting decentralized applications. McGregor highlighted that Base and the WaaS are sometimes referred to as mirroring components of a supply-and-demand dynamic. The base brings activity into a Web3 application, and more wallets create greater demand for different applications.
