About
About this guide
A plain-English handbook for browser-based self-custody wallets: how they work, how to set one up without cutting corners, and how to avoid the mistakes that cost people their assets.
What this site is
This is independent educational content. It explains how a self-custody crypto wallet extension behaves inside a desktop browser: what the keys are, what a connection request does, what a signature can authorise, and which habits keep the whole arrangement safe. It is written for people who are new to self-custody, or who have a wallet already and want to understand it properly.
What this site is not
- Not an official Coinbase website. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or operated by Coinbase, and the trademarks of others are used only to describe the products discussed.
- Not a download page. Wallet software should always come from the official source. Where this guide links out, it links to official domains and to the browsers' own add-on stores — never to a mirror or a file host.
- Not financial advice. Nothing here recommends buying, selling or holding any asset. Crypto assets are volatile and self-custody means the keys, and the consequences, are yours.
- Not support. No wallet provider can recover a self-custody wallet without its recovery phrase. Nobody here can either, and anybody who claims they can is running a scam.
How the content is written
Every page is checked against a few simple rules: describe behaviour instead of inventing specifics, avoid anything that changes with each release (exact network lists, interface wording, fee tables), and point at official documentation for the parts that move. Where a detail is genuinely uncertain, the guide says so rather than guessing.
Safety content gets the most care, because it is the part that costs people money when it is wrong. The advice here is deliberately conservative: fewer approvals, offline backups, separate wallets for separate purposes, and a hardware device for anything you would be upset to lose.
Read first
If you only read one page, make it the security guide — the recovery phrase rules and the approval rules prevent more losses than everything else combined.
Then set up
The setup walkthrough takes about ten minutes and covers installation, verification, backup, funding and your first dapp connection.
When stuck
Troubleshooting covers the twelve problems that account for nearly every "my wallet isn't working" moment.
Using the guide responsibly
- Treat every “helpful” link that arrives by message, comment or ad as hostile until proven otherwise.
- Cross-check anything time-sensitive — supported networks, fees, app features — against official documentation.
- If a step here would make you type your recovery phrase anywhere, stop: no step in this guide ever requires that.
- Tell us if something reads as unsafe — a page that describes a risky habit as normal is a bug worth fixing. Start from the security guide to see the standards this site holds itself to.
Independent, informational resource
This page is educational content about browser-based self-custody wallets. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or operated by Coinbase, and it is not an official download page. Company and product names are the trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to describe the products being discussed. Always get wallet software from the official source, and never share your recovery phrase with anyone.