So Coinbase & Blockchain.info were the first web-hosted wallet?

[LeGaulois]

Does anyone remember what web-hosted wallet was available before the arrival of Coinbase & blockchain.info? If any...

Blockchain.info came on January 2012
Coinbase started to be active again* on February 2012 but look like the wallet was functional on May 2012

I can't even think about a 3rd name that came around this time too.





*Interesting to see the domain name Coinbase was already used back in 2001 (parked domain only)

[malevolent]

For non-custodial web wallets, blockchain.info was one of the first to market, but the first IIRC was StrongCoin, their announcement thread is here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=36169.msg445796#msg445796

[figmentofmyass]

Does anyone remember what web-hosted wallet was available before the arrival of Coinbase & blockchain.info?

instawallet was launched in april 2011. it got "hacked" in april 2013 and shut down after that. convenient timing for an exit scam---they shut down in the middle of a bubble while price was going vertical. i lost a few coins there. my first time getting burned storing coins with 3rd parties!

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Instawallet
https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/03/bitcoin-instawallet/

[OmegaStarScream]

There was MyBitcoin.com which stopped operating in 2011 and also Bitcoinica, which also got shut down due to a security breach in 2012.

[LTU_btc]

Good question. I tried to make little reasearch, but seems there is not much information available about early Bitcoin wallets.
From what I read, Mybitcoin.com was probably first Bitcoin web wallet. Now news website hosted under this domain, I'm wondering does it have any relstions with original owners of MyBitcoin website.
Bitcoinica was trading platform, rather than web wallet.
And I didn't knew that Coinbase is so old service, working since 2012. I thought they started in 2013 or 2014.
And if Wiki don't lie, Blockchain.info (now Blockchain.com) launched their service in August 2011.

[LeGaulois]

Thanks, it's more than I thought, I've never heard of these sites

@LTU_btc Yeah, I had seen that blockchain.info started in 2011, but when I searched with Archive.org I found that it was actually just a blockchain explorer, something very basic and with a very very very ugly interface. It was only after that they developed their web wallet. (on 2012) I visited the domain mybitcoin.com and now it's a news site, surely used for SEO purposes. So from the early days, only Coinbase.com & blockchain.com are still alive

[bitmover]

For non-custodial web wallets, blockchain.info was one of the first to market, but the first IIRC was StrongCoin, their announcement thread is here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=36169.msg445796#msg445796

The term "custodial wallet" is contradictory to me. I don't think a service that doesn't provide private keys can be called a walllet. They are just an exchange holding funds

https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/1526452-where-can-i-find-the-private-keys-for-my-wallet-
Where can I find the private keys for my wallet?
 
As Coinbase is a hosted wallet, it's not feasible to provide the private keys to individual wallet addresses; doing so would prevent us from taking advantage of our secure cold-storage technology to protect your funds.

[LeGaulois]

For non-custodial web wallets, blockchain.info was one of the first to market, but the first IIRC was StrongCoin, their announcement thread is here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=36169.msg445796#msg445796

The term "custodial wallet" is contradictory to me. I don't think a service that doesn't provide private keys can be called a walllet. They are just an exchange holding funds

https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/1526452-where-can-i-find-the-private-keys-for-my-wallet-
Where can I find the private keys for my wallet?
 
As Coinbase is a hosted wallet, it's not feasible to provide the private keys to individual wallet addresses; doing so would prevent us from taking advantage of our secure cold-storage technology to protect your funds.

If I'm correct (since I've never used it) in the old time it was possible to export the private keys. That's why he mentioned it.
They removed this option ~2 years ago when they 'revamped' the wallet and since, it works only for imported wallets IIRC.
It was also possible on Coinbase in the beginning too, they removed it when it started to become a major player

edit

Maybe you confused it with feature to sign message.

Yeah, I did, sorry that was long ago

[LTU_btc]

If I'm correct (since I've never used it) in the old time it was possible to export the private keys. That's why he mentioned it.
They removed this option ~2 years ago when they 'revamped' the wallet and since, it works only for imported wallets IIRC.
It was also possible on Coinbase in the beginning too, they removed it when it started to become a major player

I used Coinbase in past for a long time, and I can't remember such feature on their website. Maybe you confused it with feature to sign message. In past it was possible to sign a message using Coinbase wallet address, but it was silently removed when they revamped website. But private keys always were in control of Coinbase.

[roosbit]

For non-custodial web wallets, blockchain.info was one of the first to market, but the first IIRC was StrongCoin, their announcement thread is here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=36169.msg445796#msg445796

The undocumented history about bitcoin and it's wallets
 
And without this thread I certainly would never have known about these guys, wounder where they disappeared to.

And if memory serves me right isn't local bitcoins a long serving wallet provider despite being mainly labeled as a p2p exchange...or it doesn't just fit in this category.

[malevolent]

The undocumented history about bitcoin and it's wallets
And without this thread I certainly would never have known about these guys, wounder where they disappeared to.
And if memory serves me right isn't local bitcoins a long serving wallet provider despite being mainly labeled as a p2p exchange...or it doesn't just fit in this category.

StrongCoin is still around.

An exchange is an exchange and should be treated as such, they did/do encourage their users to treat them as a wallet at times but you're at their mercy if they decide to freeze your funds, if they get hacked, etc.

[LeGaulois]

@roosbit

Basically, I wanted to know what people were using before but I also realize now the situation hasn't changed (a lot) since.
 
Coinbase & Blockchain.info were the most popular back in the years but in 2019 they're still the most popular and it will be probably the same for the next 5-10 years... Only 2 companies dominate the market...

I checked LocalBitcoin and to my surprise, it started in 2012. See the screenshot below and notice Btrash mentioned...