On November 9, Coinbase introduced a new feature enabling users to confirm their account and national credentials on the blockchain, unlocking extra perks.
According to Coinbase's support documentation, these verifications act as a "trusted badge," opening doors to blockchain-based applications and advantages. Initially, this verification will award users a badge within Base’s Guild — a membership scheme for Base, Coinbase's layer-2 network — and exclusive entry to a private Discord channel.
Coinbase also plans to expand these benefits, soon offering gasless (meaning without transaction fees) operations and access to various apps on the Base network. Among these forthcoming applications are three DeFi (Decentralized Finance) platforms: Index Coop, Perennial, and Volmex.
The additional information on the help page elaborates further. It specifies that verifications can be linked to any Ethereum (EVM) wallet that is self-custodial, but these cannot be shifted to different addresses. Another part of the page mentions that a verification can be linked with up to three wallet addresses, such as those from Metamask and Coinbase Wallet.
Coinbase has stated that while declaring one's country of residence is optional, it might be required for accessing certain applications. The company also guarantees that user information will remain private and not be shared on the blockchain without user consent. For on-chain account verification, users need to have a Coinbase account free from any restrictions on buying, selling, or trading, as per Coinbase's guidelines.
Coinbase's broader vision includes enabling third-party issuers to provide verifications through its service and broadening the verification methods available to users. These verifications are carried out via the Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS), a project within the Ethereum community that is also utilized by other initiatives, including Optimism.
