Does coinbase have control of your coinbase android wallet?

[edward500]

I tried to send bitcoin through coinbase.com and they would not allow the transfer to an online news agency bitcoin address.

About a week or so later I got an Email and Coinbase made me fill out a form about why I was trying to send bitcoin to this address. It was for $5 dollars worth.

I later learned that this news agency was sanctioned by USA and it was under Russian disinformation website. I had no idea as I thought it was just a news website that offered an alternative perspective than what the USA media is telling us about the war. I mean who would have thought the USA government would sanction news right?


Coinbase made me fill out a bunch of questions about why I was sending $5 bitcoin here, even though it never got sent. They asked the reasons and how I was affiliated with this organization. They said it was their due diligence or something, even though the bitcoin never got sent on coinbase.com

Kind of pissed they made me fill this out and I had no choice because they threatened to ban my account.

I did actually send bitcoin to this Russian organization with my mobile coinbase wallet as they did not block me sending bitcoin to this bitcoin address with the mobile wallet.

My question is, does coinbase know and keep track of who I am sending bitcoin to with the mobile coinbase wallet? Should I consider another wallet?

Thanks

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[Charles-Tim]

My question is, does coinbase know and keep track of who I am sending bitcoin to with the mobile coinbase wallet? Should I consider another wallet?

You will find this thread interesting: Is Coinbase noncustododial wallet recommendable?

That is the noncustodial wallet you are referring to.

https://wallet.coinbase.com/privacy-policy

Information We Collect
We receive or collect information when we operate and provide our Services, including when you install, access, or use our Services.

Information you provide

Your Account Information - In order to create a Coinbase Wallet account, you will provide us with a username. You may also voluntarily add other information, such as a username.

Your Transactions - Your Network private key, which you utilize to access your funds and initiate transactions, is stored only on your own device. However, to facilitate your transactions and provide you with your account balance, we store the Network public key address associated with your Network private key.

Customer Support - We may collect additional information you may disclose to our customer support team.
Information we collect from our affiliates

Our "family of companies" is the group of companies related to us by common control or ownership ("Affiliates"). In accordance with applicable law, we may obtain information about you from our Affiliates as a normal part of conducting business with you, such as when you link your Coinbase, Inc. account to your Wallet account, so that we may offer our Affiliates' Services to you (e.g., convert cryptocurrency into fiat and make withdrawals into your bank account).

Automatically collected information

Metrics and Performance Data - We may collect service-related, diagnostic, and performance information. This includes high level information about your activity (such as how you use our Services and how you interact with others using our Services), and diagnostic, crash, website, and performance logs and reports.

Device and Connection Information - We may collect device-specific information when you install, access, or use our Services. This may include your IP address and, if you choose to allow push notifications through Coinbase Wallet, your device's unique push token. We may also temporarily collect information about decentralized applications (dapps) that you are connecting to, while establishing that connection.

Status Information - We may collect information about your online status on our Services, such as when you last used our Services (your "last seen status").

Use Electrum, https://electrum.org
For privacy, use https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/ with Tor, but you will have to download appropriately 400 gigabyte of blockchain.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

My question is, does coinbase know and keep track of who I am sending bitcoin to with the mobile coinbase wallet? Should I consider another wallet?
Thanks

Why are you using coinbase wallet in the first place, like there are no better noncustodial wallet like electrum?
Obviously, they can keep track of your transactions and even provide the information to your Government if requested.

[Marvell1]

I'm not sure if it tracks the user or not? but its android wallet version is a noncustodial wallet and it's like trust wallet is a closed source, so it is not a safe solution for us.

Electrum is currently considered the best open source software wallet today, in addition to the desktop version, there is also an android version that you can replace your coinbase wallet. My only regret is that the electrum wallet still doesn't have an IOS version.

[Saint-loup]

For now, it's better to avoid sending cryptos to any russian company from platforms where KYC are needed if you are living in a western country IMO. Exchanges are worst than banks sometimes. I think Coinbase will red list you now and maybe sending informations about you to CIA or another american intelligence agency. If I were you, I would send my BTC from Coinbase to a blender before putting them in a truly non custodial and independent wallet to avoid being blockchain tracked by an agency.

[mk4]

OP seems to be describing the Coinbase exchange, not necessarily the Coinbase non-custodial wallet.

OP: if you use exchanges(like Coinbase) to store your funds, they will always have the power to lock or do whatever to your funds. The solution is, to not use them!

Use hardware wallets.

https://cryptosec.info/wallets

[Darker45]

Your mobile Coinbase wallet is noncustodial, which means Coinbase cannot block your transaction. It doesn't have control over your funds. It is different with your Coinbase.com account because the latter is apparently custodial. They may review and reject your transaction. They may withhold your funds.

As to whether Coinbase knows where you are sending Bitcoin to, that's actually transparent to everyone else. Everybody knows where people are sending Bitcoin to, although one could keep his/her identity from being being attached to his/her public address. A self-custody wallet doesn't ask for any KYC information.

[acroman08]

My question is, does coinbase know and keep track of who I am sending bitcoin to with the mobile coinbase wallet?

I mean they can probably see the address of the wallet you sent it to, but knowing who the owner of that wallet is? I guess not. unless that wallet is publicly known to be owned by someone, I guess they can find out.

Should I consider another wallet?

yes you should, the members have mentioned electrum, I've been using it for a while now and it is pretty well known and highly trusted.

anyway, if you have time I suggest reading this thread [General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why?

[hugeblack]

When you use coinbase, you give them the right to manage your coins, so they can create a list of banned addresses that you will not be able to send to.

The reason for this is that when you withdraw from the platform, the money comes from their hot wallet, which means that the source of the money is Coinbase and therefore they will not risk causing problems with United State.

So if you want the freedom to send, use any well reviewed open source wallet and run a full node.

[Charles-Tim]

OP seems to be describing the Coinbase exchange, not necessarily the Coinbase non-custodial wallet.

OP: if you use exchanges(like Coinbase) to store your funds, they will always have the power to lock or do whatever to your funds. The solution is, to not use them!

You are right that using a hardware wallet is a great solution, especially if having a huge amount of bitcoin or other coins, hardware wallet is what to go for. But OP indicated both coinbase.com and the Coinbase noncustodial wallet, indicating the cons of Coinbase.com why asking if Coinbase noncustodial wallet can be a good alternative. We all know how both are not recommendable because one is a custodial wallet just like you meant while the other makes its users to lack privacy.

Your mobile Coinbase wallet is noncustodial, which means Coinbase cannot block your transaction. It doesn't have control over your funds. It is different with your Coinbase.com account because the latter is apparently custodial. They may review and reject your transaction. They may withhold your funds.

As to whether Coinbase knows where you are sending Bitcoin to, that's actually transparent to everyone else. Everybody knows where people are sending Bitcoin to, although one could keep his/her identity from being being attached to his/her public address. A self-custody wallet doesn't ask for any KYC information.

But this does not mean the Coinbase noncustodial wallet is recommendable, in fact, it is not. It gives full control but no privacy and also encouraging people to make use of online cloud for seed phrase storage, it is not an open source wallet.

So if you want the freedom to send, use any well reviewed open source wallet and run a full node.

Yes, especially for privacy reasons, it is best to use a full node wallet. But he can run an SPV wallet like Electrum anonymously by using it with Tor.

[Plaguedeath]

Coinbase android wallet (non custodial) is closed source, this make anyone doesn't know what the developer code inside the wallet. This including anything that will spy your activities or add malicious malware that you wouldn't know! That's why it's recommended to use non custodial and open source wallet, hardware wallet e.g. trezor and ledger should prevent from this one.

I think we need to avoid any wallet that associated with centralized entity or exchange.

[aysg76]

You just want to send over $5 in a transaction through coinbase and they ask you to fill out the form stating your purpose and all other bullshit so what kind of privacy and security you expect from them? People have been already advised not to use these centralised exchange and wallet service as they have control over your funds and will make you feel like culprit who is sending money in an illegal way so don't use it and instead opt for other good non custodial wallets like Electrum and transfer fund easily.

Coinbase has the anti-privacy reputation in the market like restricting users from making transfer, asking for all these documents and freezing some accounts with no proper information so what else do you expect from them? In the SEC filings they stated in case of any insolvency the user funds will be treated as product investment to pay off the debts so it's their money indirectly which you have deposited over with them.Take it out as soon you can to be on safe side otherwise your funds will be gone and your data leak issue still remains at high risk.

[Findingnemo]

Yes they know because both are from the same company so if you completed KYC on coinbase Android wallet then for sure they can collect details by syncing the documents they have so may also freeze your coinbase Android wallet along with funds. Even the money has never been sent still they are following what their regulatory body asked the platform to do. But it won't happen all of sudden it may even take upto 6 months.

[Eternad]

Coinbase is a regulated exchange which means they have a license to operate in exchange on following the US regulatory guideline. They are just doing the standard procedure to protect the interest of there company in case you are doing something that against on US law especially those sanctioned. What I don’t understand is how the hell coinbase knew the owner of the receiver address?

Coinbase is a regulated exchange and not a none custodial wallet. Use electrum instead if you want a full freedom to you wallet.

[dkbit98]

My question is, does coinbase know and keep track of who I am sending bitcoin to with the mobile coinbase wallet? Should I consider another wallet?

Coinbase knows all about you because you passed your kyc documentations, and it's tracks all your transactions and connected addresses probably with some analytics tracking company.
I would never keep my coins on any exchange including Coinbase, and even withdrawing kyc coins from exchange to your own wallet could create some issue for you in future.
Best way is to use non-custodial wallets like Electrum and use decentralized exchanges like Bisq.

[Wincob]

Coinbase wallet is closed source, centralized or call it whatever you want to, this is a wallet whereby the owners keep your private keys for you, this is why I don't use coinbase wallet, you can be restricted to send out assets that belongs to you, imagine that, they can even freeze your assets without you knowing, do not use such wallet, you have only 40% control over your wallet trust me, go for Electrum wallet or Trust wallet.

[hosseinimr93]

.................go for Electrum wallet or Trust wallet.

Electrum is surely a good choice, but I wouldn't recommend trustwallet. Trustwallet gives you access to your private keys. But since it's close-source, there is no guarantee that you are the only one who has access to the keys.

[nakamura12]

They won't know who you want to send the btc but they can track the transaction you made on coinbase since they collect data. Why did you use coinbase in the first place?. There are much better wallets out there like electrum.

.................go for Electrum wallet or Trust wallet.

Electrum is surely a good choice, but I wouldn't recommend trustwallet. Trustwallet gives you access to your private keys. But since it's close-source, there is no guarantee that you are the only one who has access to the keys.

Electrum is certainly a good choice when you want to use a noncustodial wallets. Trustwallet is fine in my opinion base on the time I am using it and also my experience using it plus it is also a noncustodial wallet but one thing that many people doesn't like because Trustwallet is a close source that will make the one who use Trustwallet think who might have the private key or mnemonic phrase of the wallet. It's already more than a year since I am using Trustwallet but the way I use it is to receive and send right away instead of receiving and storing btc. So far, I didn't notice anything that someone have access to the wallet or a transaction happen without my knowledge.

[sheenshane]

.................go for Electrum wallet or Trust wallet.

Electrum is surely a good choice, but I wouldn't recommend trustwallet. Trustwallet gives you access to your private keys. But since it's close-source, there is no guarantee that you are the only one who has access to the keys.

It's a very simple and easy-to-use wallet, it's also safe to store your Bitcoin compared to this close source wallets, for a free safe wallet just go for Electrum.
All open source wallet is good to use to avoid such problem, most likely those custodial wallets following the government's jurisdiction which might the reason OP has been experienced.

From Coinbase, you need to transfer first your coin to your Electrum wallet and then you're free to send it anywhere without thinking that you send Bitcoin to a sanctioned country or company.  It's good to remember always this saying, Not your key, Not your coins.

[PX-Z]

OP seems to be describing the Coinbase exchange, not necessarily the Coinbase non-custodial wallet.

Much like be the case. Their non-custodial wallet has is describes as a different wallet that can fully control your coins and other alts including nft.

Might be better if OP can confirm this. Because if their so-called non-custodial wallet has the same restrictions as described by OP, this is obviously a fucked up wallet pretending to be non-custodial.