Jeff Fawkes is a seasoned investment professional and a crypto analyst. He has a dual degree in Business Administration and Creative Writing and is passionate when it comes to how technology impacts our society.
Coinbase Wallet, Ethereum Domain Service and mainwallet sync – one of the biggest companies in the industry just rolled out a significant update to its mobile app. Users are allowed to purchase ENS domains via in-app Dapp browser.
When Coinbase established its own cryptocurrency wallet, its aim was to offer a possibility to send payments to the ETH-based domain names. But users of Ethereum wallets tend to send payments not only to the long, inconvenient to remember addresses. They also like sending to the *.eth domains, working thanks to the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). It has several decentralization-related benefits compared to the classic domain name setups.
Now, the Coinbase wallet is rolling out the update allowing it to send Ethereum payments to the domain names ending with ETH. Also, the wallet now supports sending money to other Wallet users, by simply typing in their wallet username like this one: @walletfan.
Coinbase Thinks Old-School Addresses are ‘Cumbersome’
The company is pretty famous for its regulatory compliance, wide coverage in the field, notable deals and a huge number of followers. Per the company’s blog post, they have received a ton of tickets from the clients asking to deal with the classic crypto addresses. Despite looking cool to an eye of hardcore cyberpunk, the usual crypto address is a long string of letters and digits. There are no people on this planet who could memorize at least three or five of such addresses. This makes them somewhat inconvenient to carry and transmit to others in real life.
However, you could always remember a domain name or a short wallet username! Coinbase claims that some services are allowing to integrate short, human-readable payment usernames right into the classic crypto address. These are the attempts to do this in Bitcoin: OneName and BitAlias. But such services didn’t gain Coinbase-level popularity, and they have no wallet integration. Per the Coinbase blog:
“We believe these improvements will make cryptocurrency much easier to use and help drive adoption with a more mainstream audience. Users can now easily send money to friends and business partners like they do with traditional payment apps, albeit globally and in crypto.”
So, How to Send to a Wallet Username or the ENS Alias?
Since the Coinbase Wallet allows clients to create unique usernames within their wallets, it’s more than easy to attach some addresses for incoming payments. Via this feature, users can send plenty of mainstream coins, not only Ethereum. Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, and even Ethereum Classic are available, together with all the ERC-20 tokens (with special support for USDC and DAI).
In case the user wants the username to remain private, he can pick the appropriate option. Then, other wallet users won’t be able to find him in the search or send the coins.
As per the integration of the Ethereum Name Service domains. You can only transfer Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens to such aliases.
Users who want their own *.eth domain, like vitalik.eth, can purchase a personal one via Wallet’s build-in Dapp browser. The mobile app is also easily linkable to the main Coinbase account, in case you want to sync one. However, previously, users were only able to send coins to the mobile wallet and not back. With this new update, they might as well send the coins back to Coinbase’s main wallet, if they need it.
Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.