Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced the integration of the Coinbase Wallet with the Blockaid security tool by the end of 2023. Coinbase Wallet and Blockaid revealed in a joint report on March 13th that the new technology had been integrated five months earlier to provide additional security layers for Coinbase users. The companies stated that the integrated Blockaid technology helped Coinbase prevent the theft of more than $75 million in funds.
Coinbase and Blockaid Partnership Unveiled
According to the announcement, the security tool scanned and analyzed 114 million transactions and DApp connections, blocking approximately 800,000 wallet connections to malicious decentralized applications. Blockaid CEO Ido Ben Natan commented on the matter, stating that through wallet-level integration on platforms, they managed to count the amount of funds saved by analyzing malicious transactions and calculating the current value of the proposed transaction:
“We can confidently say that the minimum amount of funds saved for users is over $75 million.”
The integration of Coinbase Wallet with Blockaid particularly provided a better transaction simulation, revealing a security feature used to predict the outcome of a transaction before it is broadcasted on the blockchain network. Transaction simulation allows the platform to better prevent crypto fraud and theft by predicting the potential outcomes of specific cryptocurrency transactions.
According to the announcement, Coinbase is using three Blockaid application programming interfaces (APIs) to create a security layer for users while browsing DApps, transacting with Web3 protocols or addresses, and messaging on-chain.
Key Details on Coinbase Wallet
With Blockaid’s technology, Coinbase Wallet users better understand what will happen when they sign a transaction, including on-chain asset transfers like Ethereum and off-chain transactions such as OpenSea’s Seaport orders. According to Chintan Turakhia, Coinbase’s senior engineering director, the integration improved transaction simulations on at least seven chains, including the Ethereum network and six other Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains, mentioning Base, Optimism, and Polygon among the supported networks.
Coinbase Wallet is not the only wallet to implement Blockaid’s transaction security technology. Major EVM wallet MetaMask introduced Blockaid security alerts in November 2023. In February 2024, MetaMask announced the expansion of default security alerts across multiple blockchain networks, including Linea, BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Avalanche.
