Coinbase challenges traditional payment giants with a new ‘tap to pay’ feature

Jesse Pollak, Coinbase’s Wallet lead and Base founder, announced the introduction of a new ‘tap to pay’ feature for the Coinbase wallet. He revealed that the Coinbase non-custodial crypto wallet solution scheduled for a 2025 rollout will rival giants PayPal, Cash App, and Venmo.

Speaking at the DevCon conference in Bangkok on November 13th, Pollak claimed the crypto solution was currently undergoing internal alpha testing with a full rollout to nearly 50 countries coming soon. He added that the new feature will provide merchants with a better, faster, and more global tap-to-pay experience. 

Coinbase wallet introduces a tap-to-pay feature for crypto payments 

#CMCNews: Coinbase Wallet will be announcing a new "Tap to Pay" service.https://t.co/9kA2kAl6ME

— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) November 15, 2024

According to Pollak, the new innovation was centered on combining crypto digital infrastructure with traditional banking systems. He added that the feature would allow users to receive stablecoin payments like Tether and USDC, which could easily be converted to local currencies. Pollak disclosed that the hybrid system would unlock better interest rates for users and close the gap between digital assets and conventional banking. Additionally, he believed the solution would serve as a path toward superior economic outcomes. 

Reportedly, this development came as Coinbase’s Layer 2 blockchain solution, Base, was almost solving Ethereum’s interoperability issues on L2. Pollak emphasized that the interoperability solution could enhance the way users interfaced with different blockchain networks. He added that the seamless token transfer between Base and Ethereum L2 networks like Arbitrum One, Blast, and OP mainnet could unite an ecosystem, securing over $42 billion in value.

“They work together…basically so you can have a wallet that can execute across every L2…It will no longer be all these fragmented L2s. It’ll instead be your wallet to let you work everywhere.”

~ Jesse Pollak

Pollak explained that this particular issue was being prioritized and getting solved faster through two key specifications. The first one, ERC-7693, introduced an interoperability standard for cross-chain transfers. The second one, RIP-7755, would enable trustless execution between chains.

Coinbase acquires Utopia Labs to advance its tap-to-pay solution

According to Pollak, Coinbase signaled its commitment to enhancing on-chain payments through the acquisition of Utopia Labs. The acquisition aimed to strengthen Coinbase’s on-chain payment infrastructure. Pollak added that the Utopia Labs team brought deep experience in building on-chain payment products. He also pointed out Utopia Labs’ track record of moving the crypto ecosystem forward.

Pollak insisted that the tap-to-pay feature would encourage more people to manage their finances directly on-chain by providing advantages like high-speed transactions and lower fees. He pointed out that improving user experience was essential as demand for stablecoins had continued to surge. Pollak disclosed that Coinbase was ready to tap into stablecoin transactions that had reached $8.5 trillion across 1.1 billion transactions in Q2 2024. 

Pollak highlighted the synergy between Coinbase, Base, and Utopia Labs, noting that Base’s support for developers creating on-chain applications attracted users that Coinbase onboarded. Therefore, he added, Utopia Labs’ expertise would be directed at achieving Coinbase’s goal of a low-cost, fast, global payment system. He also insisted that Utopia Labs fits Coinbase’s strategic direction of supporting scalable and user-friendly solutions for digital finance.