I’ve been sending out alerts to both the Bombthrower mailing list, and the premium Bitcoin Capitalist list for a couple weeks, trying to keep everybody ahead of the contagion.
This morning one asked me how to get her Bitcoin out of Coinbase and into self-custody. I’m going to assume people in this position don’t yet have a hardware wallet like a Ledger (which is what I use). That’s ok, for now you can use a software self-custody wallet until you get a hardware wallet.
For Coinbase users, the path of least resistance is to just download the Coinbase wallet app to a smartphone. It is important to note, we’re talking about the wallet app, not the exchange app (the wallet app used to be Breadwallet, which was acquired by Coinbase last year – their direct download link is here).
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Install that, then go into your settings and select Connect Coinbase Account, follow the prompts, login and from there you will be able to seamlessly move assets from your Coinbase exchange account into your self-custody wallet.
Once the assets are in your self-custody wallet, Coinbase has no access – they state so themselves in numerous warnings and caveats.
- Store your wallet seed-phrase securely
- Never give anybody that seed phrase.
- Set a different passphrase on your wallet app than on your device.
You can even go one better than the last one, I’d actually recommend that if you have an old smartphone lying around that you no longer use, take out the SIM card, install the Coinbase wallet app on that. Move your funds over, power down the phone, throw it in your office safe or safety deposit box and you’re done.
This will tide you over until you can get a proper hardware wallet like a Ledger Nano, which I highly recommend.
Remember: Not your keys, not your coins.
While I think Coinbase is still one of the more secure and reliable exchanges out there (BitBuy up here in Canada, Kraken internationally), always take your assets into self-custody.
Premium readers to The Bitcoin Capitalist (formerly known as “The Crypto Capitalist”) got an alert to get out of FTX more than 48 hours before they suspended withdrawals. The TBC letter is a high signal overview of the entire digital asset space, which you can try out for $7, fully refundable, right here »