How to set up the Coinbase Wallet extension

Open a new tab and go to Coinbase's official wallet page, then follow its install link to the add-on store for your browser. If you prefer to start inside the store, search the store directly for the wallet by name and read the publisher line before clicking anything.

Avoid the two shortcuts that cause most wallet thefts: clicking a sponsored search result, and installing a similarly named extension because it appeared higher in the list. Impostor listings buy ads and copy artwork for exactly this purpose.

Links above point to official domains and to store search pages only — this guide does not host downloads.

• Publisher: the developer line should read Coinbase, not a look-alike name with a hyphen, a doubled letter or a stray word.
• Age and volume: a long-standing listing with a very large user count and a recent update is hard to fake.
• Name spelling: check every character of the extension name against what Coinbase publishes.
• Permissions: it needs to read and change page data to talk to dapps. Anything unrelated — reading all your downloads, managing your other extensions — is a stop sign.
• Reviews: skim the newest ones. A wall of generic five-star reviews with no detail, or recent reports of drained funds, tells you what you need to know.

When the extension opens for the first time it offers a choice. Both paths end with keys on your device, but they are for different situations.

Importing does not copy assets between wallets — it recreates the same keys, so the same addresses and balances appear. That also means importing a phrase you found online, or received from someone else, means using a wallet they can empty at will. Never do it.

The extension will display a sequence of words. This is the master key to that wallet: anyone who has the words can move everything, on every network, without your password and without your device.

1. 1

   Write it down by hand, in order

   Use the numbered spaces the extension provides. Ink on paper survives a dead phone; your photo library does not stay private.

2. 2

   Store it offline, ideally in two places

   A safe, a locked drawer or a safety deposit box. If you keep a metal backup plate, that survives fire and water better than paper.

3. 3

   Never type it into a website or extension

   The only time those words go into a keyboard is when you are importing back into a wallet you are certain is genuine — and even then, prefer a hardware wallet for large balances.

4. 4

   Confirm and verify your backup

   The extension will ask you to re-enter some words. Do it from your written copy, then hide the writing somewhere sensible.

The password unlocks the local copy of your keys on this browser. It is not a substitute for the recovery phrase, but it is the difference between someone with brief access to your unlocked computer opening the wallet and not.

• Use a long passphrase you have not used for email, banking or anything else.
• Store it in a reputable password manager — never the recovery phrase.
• Turn on your operating system's lock screen and disk encryption as a second layer.
• Do not reuse the password in a second browser profile just to save time.

Before any serious transaction, prove the whole path works with an amount you would not miss.

1. 1

   Copy your receive address

   Check the current network first. The same wallet has different addresses on different networks, and sending an asset to the wrong network's address can lose it.

2. 2

   Send a small test transfer

   From an exchange or another wallet, send a small amount of the network's native coin — it is what pays transaction fees later.

3. 3

   Confirm it arrives, then keep some for gas

   Trust the balance after the transaction is confirmed. Always leave a little of the native coin available, or you will not be able to move the tokens you hold.

Open the dapp in the same browser, choose its wallet or connect option, and pick the wallet from the list. The extension opens a prompt.

• Read the origin in the prompt. It should match the site you are actually on, character for character.
• Choose which account to share. Many people keep a small "hot" account for dapps and a separate one for savings.
• Approve the connection only. This reveals your public address; it does not move funds. Later transactions each need their own approval.
• Check the network inside every transaction prompt. A swap on the wrong network is an expensive lesson.

If you need a website open on your computer and a wallet on your phone, use WalletConnect: the site shows a QR code, you scan it with the mobile app, and approvals arrive on the phone. That is the accepted way to bridge the two.

Keep the extension updated. Wallet updates are not cosmetic — they ship fixes for bypasses that scammers actively look for.

• Read the security guide and learn to spot a fake extension and a drainer approval before they cost you anything.
• Skim the feature guide to see what the wallet does and does not do.
• Bookmark the troubleshooting page — most problems are network or connection related and have simple fixes.
• Move toward a hardware wallet if your balance grows past the point where losing it would hurt.