The new feature, which is powered by the XMTP protocol, allows Coinbase Wallet users to message other users by their wallet address and with the help of a Lens account, or even by QR code, the company announced on its blog Wednesday (July 12). It also lets users transport their messages from one device to another.
“Gone are the days when you had to send a small balance to confirm a wallet address,” the release said. “No more guessing if a person’s social profile matches their wallet. Eliminate unnecessary risk and potential losses with the help of messaging.”
The messaging feature also helps secure crypto transactions by addressing a number of challenges, such as accidental crypto sending, fake online profiles and ownership of an .eth username, which may have been difficult to resolve under traditional systems. With the new feature, users can use any supported crypto asset on Coinbase Wallet to pay others with ease and security, the company said.
The launch comes as Coinbase is locked into a battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the future of its business, part of the regulator’s larger crackdown on the crypto industry.
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“But it’s important to remember that the SEC doesn’t make the rules — it just enforces them, whatever they may be and however they are written,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this week. “As a federal agency, the regulator’s powers remain ultimately dependent on legislative decisions made by lawmakers.”
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Among those lawmakers are Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who have just reintroduced “The Responsible Financial Innovation Act,” a bipartisan bill designed to provide a comprehensive legal framework for both policing and supporting the digital asset industry.
The bill puts cryptocurrencies within a regulatory perimeter that would give more oversight of the industry to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as opposed to the SEC, meaning crypto exchanges will have to register with the CFTC — not the SEC.
The bill also calls for the funding of the CFTC and other agencies in order to implement its policies.
To placate crypto critics, the refreshed legislation includes a trio of provisions proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) in their anti-money laundering bill introduced in 2022.
To combat crypto’s use by criminals and bad actors, the legislation calls for the creation of an interagency law enforcement working group charged with policing crypto.
“Crypto assets will be a part of the future of finance, and America must continue to lead the global financial system,” the bill says.
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