Trying some new Wallets: part 4 - Coinbase: What say you?

[ronnieb]

Ok Bitcoiners, Part 4. Gonna do some talks on Bitcoin Wallets, looking for opinions.

Third wallet will be Coinbase wallet Mobile, Desktop.

* What's your opinion?
* Looking for Pros and Cons.
* What you like about it.
* What you don't like.
* what would you change?

Link to https://coinbase.com/

And if you are a coinbase hater... let me here it. If you love'em I want to hear it also.

Thanks again for all the help!

[bitkilo]

Hello again, i like these wallet threads.
Now regarding Coinbase.

I think Coinbase may have been the first bitcoin wallet i had.
I dont use them anymore manily due to the fact that being in Australia i can buy coins through Coinbase so i changed to Coinjar.

It was a good wallet but the other main reason i left is that you don't have control of your private keys, and if you don't hold your own private keys you never have full control of your bitcoins.
I like to be in full control of my bitcoins so i have only myself to blame if anything goes wrong.

Even with Coinjar i dont leave any coins online for more than 1 day. Normaly as soon as they clear i transfer them to my cold storage.

Coinbase wiki link:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinbase

[BitcoinXio]

Coinbase is a great bitcoin company to onboard new users. They were the first place I bought and stored bitcoin with when I started in this space. At the time, they didn't allow users to have access to private keys, so I moved off their platform as a wallet and only used it for buying.

I switched to Blockchain.info as a wallet, which worked out great, never had any problems with them. I've tried many wallets and I've found Electrum to be really well rounded and hardened.

As for Coinbase as a wallet, I'd say they have evolved over the years and are great for beginners and people getting their feet wet. For those that become advanced users they will want to eventually move their coins to a desktop client or even a hardware wallet.

[creationlayer]

Here are some of my opinions.

-They do allow control of private keys if you put funds into their vault and control 2 keys, rather than allow them to control 2.
-Coinbase is convenient to buy but up sells purchases to the actual exchange price, I recommend buying on the exchange if it's available in your area.
-If you use coinbase you have to give them everything in terms of personal information. If at anytime a government or something else decides to look into things you could run into issues.
-It has been reported that accounts have been closed for suspected gambling or other illegal activities, be weary of how you deposit funds.
-the user experience is an 7/10 for me, I don't like that I can't control sending addresses, or specific address keys this is my main issue.

Bottom Line
-With coinbase my suggestion is keep only what you need at the moment, for instance if you use the debit card. Don't store your hodl funds, and if you do use the vault with 2 keys you control. Full disclosure I will probably start using their service again for the debit card. I used if for a couple years, and didn't like the amount of information required to store funds.

[Windowly]

Coinbase is a good on or off ramp for bitcoin but for holding bitcoin it leaves a lot to be desired.

For thing I don't have much confidence in whatever internal ledger they are using -- bitcoin can for no reason pop into your account or leave your account. Sometimes they mistakenly say your account is in the negative when it isn't. It happens on a semi-regular basis.

This has not only been my own experience but what I've heard from other people as well -- so if you do keep bitcoin in Coinbase I wouldn't keep too much and I'd write down somewhere else (or take a screenshot) of how much bitcoin and cash you have. That way if you do login and see something amiss you can contact support.

[bitkilo]

If i have 1 good thing to say about Coinbase it is that they seem to be doing the most productive work in helping bring bitcoin mainstream.

[Windowly]

If i have 1 good thing to say about Coinbase it is that they seem to be doing the most productive work in helping bring bitcoin mainstream.

I agree. I definitely think their heart is in the right place. I also appreciate them pushing for Bitcoin-XT.