Reported by Cointelegraph, Coinbase will start moving more of its customer and corporate USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin accounts to Base — its Ethereum layer-2 blockchain launched a little over seven months ago.
Coinbase vice president Max Branzburg posted to X on March 26 claiming the move would allow the crypto exchange to “manage and secure customer funds with lower fees and faster settlement times.”
The change only impacts Coinbase.com accounts — not Coinbase Wallet, as those users are responsible for their own private keys.
Currently, Coinbase.com user tokens are custodied by Coinbase in a wallet secured by multiparty computation.
Branzburg stressed that Coinbase always holds customer assets 1:1 and doesn’t lend funds out unless instructed.
Coinbase’s move on-chain will carve a path toward a future on-chain financial system, explained David Hoffman, a co-host on the Ethereum-focused show Bankless in a March 26 X post.
Bankless co-host, Ryan Sean Adams, believed the move would also set a precedent for cryptocurrency exchanges and banks to follow suit.