Setting up Coinbase Wallet on your computer via Chrome
Coinbase Wallet isn’t just available on your mobile device—there’s also a standalone browser extension available in Google Chrome. While using your phone might be ideal for some transactions, like buying NFTs, you might find that you prefer using your desktop if you’re doing something more complex, like using a DeFi protocol.
To get started, you’ll need to install the Coinbase Wallet extension from the Chrome store.
Once you have the extension installed, you can either create a new wallet or import an existing wallet from another app, like MetaMask.
Creating a new wallet
When creating a new Coinbase Wallet, you’ll be prompted to enter a username. Other Coinbase Wallet users will be able to find you by your username and use it to send you crypto. Remember: your username can’t be changed!
You’ll then be shown your 12-word recovery phrase, an algorithmically generated string of simple words that allows you to unlock your wallet to send or spend cryptocurrency. You’re going to want to back up the phrase in a secure location, like a password manager, or by writing it down and keeping it somewhere safe. If you lose access to the phrase, you’ll lose access to your crypto, and the phrase can’t be recovered.
Once you’ve backed up your recovery phrase, you can create a password to access your wallet. Then you’re all done!
Importing a new wallet
If you’re already using another crypto wallet app, you can import it to your Coinbase Wallet extension with your recovery phrase. Recovery phrases are portable, so users can transfer their wallet from one self-custody provider to another, without having any impact on their existing wallet. Any transactions you make will show up across all wallets that you’ve imported your recovery phrase to.
Keep in mind that while recovery phrases are portable, passwords are provider-specific and will not be imported to a new wallet provider.
Now that your self-custody wallet has been added to your web browser, it’s time to add some crypto to it!
