Coinbase has announced an innovative feature to its wallet: Encrypted messaging. This feature, designed to empower its user base with seamless communication, signifies an important stride in the firm’s commitment to harness the power of decentralization.

Opening the conversation lines with XMTP

Utilizing the Extensible Message Transport Protocol (XMTP), an instant messaging system built for blockchain addresses, Coinbase Wallet now enables its users to communicate directly. This applies to all wallet users, including those owning Web3 social platform Lens usernames, .eth, or cb.id identities.

Siddharth Coelho-Prabhu, Director of Product Management, stated, “Coinbase is enabling users to easily port their conversations from any of the ~450 applications built on XMTP to Coinbase Wallet.” The XMTP infrastructure promises the free flow of messages and offers users full ownership of their messages and transactions through their unique, on-chain identity.

Remarkably, while messages are exchanged using crypto wallets, they are not recorded on the blockchain, diverging from the usual asset transfer process. The messages traverse a permissioned network of nodes managed by XMTP Labs, a company working towards decentralizing its network.

A decentralized approach to combat fraud

Coinbase’s new feature, aimed initially at users scanning a QR code from their blog post or owning Lens profiles, is part of the broader strategy to counter fraud. By enabling direct communication to a wallet’s owner, it eliminates the need for external messaging platforms where a user’s Web3 identity could be unverified.

The move marks a significant improvement over popular crypto user chat platforms like Twitter, Discord, and Telegram, which currently lack the ability to confirm users’ Web3 identities. It offers an additional layer of security by reducing unnecessary risk and potential losses.

Moreover, the utilization of XMTP bolsters decentralization. Users will maintain their chat histories and view them using other XMTP applications, such as Lenster or OrbApp, even if Coinbase discontinues its wallet services or ceases operations.

By incorporating XMTP into its wallet, Coinbase amplifies the adoption of Web3 usernames. The decision followed the firm’s initiative in September to offer free cb.id usernames to all users, leading to a surge in registrations. The fact that the messaging platform uses human-readable names replaces complex crypto addresses, thus fostering Coinbase’s vision to make the crypto world more accessible and user-friendly.