As the saying goes, “Not your keys, not your coins.” Now with a new partnership between top cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the Ledger self-custody wallet, users will be able to take self-custody of their crypto easier than ever before.
Yesterday, February 13th, Coinbase announced it was integrating Ledger Live app onto its platform, enabling users to purchase cryptocurrencies directly through Ledger without the need to first purchase on a hot wallet and then transfer to Ledger. Previously, users had to transfer their crypto from Coinbase to Ledger Live, which was a process that was ripe for errors and the potential loss of crypto.
Current users of Coinbase can use the integration without any further KYC steps and can purchase crypto at the same price as on Coinbase.com with no additional fees. For now, the new integration is available in the U.K., U.S., New Zealand, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and Canada.
Ian Rogers, the Chief Experience Officer at Ledger, said that both companies are committed to “making crypto easy-to-use and keeping consumers secure.” He added in a post on X that “It’s a great day to on-ramp to self-custody.”
Lauren Dowling, Head of Product, Coinbase Developer Payment Services, noted that the crypto exchange was excited to collaborate with Ledger to let users “seamlessly purchase crypto with Coinbase Pay” right “into their self-custody solution.”
Self-custody enables users to safeguard their private keys without having to rely on a third-party intermediary or custodian. According to Rogers, there are about 10 million people who currently have secure self-custody of their crypto. The partnership with Coinbase could help onboard the next million.
Ledger Remains a Top Player in Web3
Although Ledger hasn’t been without its problems recently, the self-custody crypto wallet has been in the game since 2014 and continues to be a top choice for people who want to have control over their crypto assets. At Rarity Sniper, we’ve written several stories about Ledger in recent years. Here are the top three stories from the company.
First, in March 2023, RTFKT and Ledger announced a partnership at NFT Paris. As part of the partnership, the companies launched the Ledger Quest, a “learn-to-earn” educational program that incentivized NFT learning with the chance to earn crypto rewards.
Next, in December 2022, Ledger released a new NFT and crypto hardware wallet called the Ledger Stax wallet. The wallet, which was designed with the help of Tony Fadell, the designer of the iPod, allows users to display NFTs and manage over 5,000 coins.
Lastly, in August 2022, Ledger sold out its first ever NFT collection in under 24 hours. The “Ledger Market Passes — Genesis Edition” consisted of 10,000 NFTs priced at 0.3 ETH a piece. Their current floor price on OpenSea is 0.04 ETH, or around $110.
Although Ledger isn’t in Web3 news as much as some other companies, when it makes a move in the space it tends to be a big deal — and the latest partnership with Coinbase is no exception. In the past, transferring crypto assets from an exchange to a hardware wallet could be a stressful process, especially when transferring large amounts. Now for Coinbase users, the stress could be over.