We may often wonder how to register or use popular platforms like Bybit, Blofin, and others, which you can find out in our detailed reviews.
However, sometimes, it may be necessary to delete a wallet and an entire account on one of these platforms, most importantly safely and without losing your funds.
That’s the purpose of this article, precisely: Coinbase Wallet deletion steps, closing Coinbase Wallet without losing money, and closing the Coinbase Account too.
Why Delete Coinbase Wallet?
First, let’s look at the main reasons why you might have such need.
Security Issues
You can distrust the security measures that Coinbase applies. While Coinbase has given no reason for great distrust, any system is not perfect, as the people who created it are not either. Perhaps you’ve decided not to trust all CEXs and switch to DEX, or you want to switch to initially safer cold wallets. All of these may be worthy causes in your individual scenario and priorities.
Privacy Preferences
A related thing is privacy priorities, as you may have decided for yourself that CEX or hot wallets as an approach to crypto storage itself requires too much personal data that you wouldn’t want to share. You may also not want to share personal data with crypto exchanges that are located in specific jurisdictions because you are not comfortable with the legislation on this.
Personal Choice to Self-Manage Cryptocurrencies
Also, one of the reasons could be that you want to have more control over your assets and take full responsibility for their storage and other operations. Or you have found other solutions that are more preferable to you on certain operations and scenarios.
Coinbase support Issues
Also, you may not be satisfied with Coinbase’s support service. Even though it does not have a bad reputation, you may not be satisfied with its policies in dealing with issues that are important to you. We strongly recommend that you do not neglect to study the policies set by the company so that you are always aware of the areas of responsibility.
Mistakes When Deleting Coinbase Wallet Leading to Loss of Funds
If you found one of the previous reasons or some other personal ones valid for you and made a decision, then you need to do things right to avoid mistakes and securely delete your Coinbase Wallet account.
Forgetting to Withdraw the Funds From the Wallet
This is probably the most common mistake without checking the balance of your wallet before removing it. Even more so, it’s a whole scenario where you once signed up for Coinbase and made a few transactions, but it never became your primary platform for your reasons. Your smartphone indicates that your usage of this app is minimal, and you want to free up space on your device. You delete the app and only then remember that you had some funds on it. Remember, always transfer crypto before deleting Coinbase Wallet, or any other wallet that may contain your funds.
Deleting the App and Forgetting to Back Up the Secret Recovery Phrase
Another common mistake, and perhaps a continuation of the previous scenario, is that you did not save your secret recovery phrase when you first installed it and when you uninstalled it later. Since Coinbase wallet is self-custody, and logging in to your Coinbase exchange account using your username and password is not a solution to get your funds back, you can irretrievably lose your funds in such a scenario. Always take seriously the secret recovery phrase and its safety.
Coinbase Wallet Deleting Steps
Only after the withdrawal of funds, you can consider that you are going to safely deactivate Coinbase Wallet.
How to Transfer Funds Before Deleting Coinbase Wallet
Let’s move on to practice, namely what you need to do before deleting is to take care of your funds before deleting Coinbase Wallet. It’s a standard crypto withdrawal to another platform or wallet you’re going to use instead of Coinbase Wallet.
Go to your Assets, look for Crypto, and click Send. Next, carefully enter the specific asset, amount, network, and your crypto platform address. Do it with each asset in the Crypto section.
Next, it is important to go through all the sections and check NFTs and DeFi, carefully specifying the network and address of your other crypto platform. Remember that the networks must match and the addresses must be entered correctly, otherwise you risk losing funds even before deleting Coinbase Wallet.
Decouple Coinbase Wallet from Coinbase CEX Account
Your wallet is empty, but you should not keep it connected to your Coinbase CEX Account. Let’s imagine that you are no longer using Coinbase Wallet, but you are using Coinbase CEX and have lost your smartphone with your wallet still linked. This could be an additional point of entry and a way to steal your funds if your wallet falls into the wrong hands.
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To avoid this, go to your wallet Settings and click Sign Out. Then Coinbase Wallet will have no connection to your Coinbase CEX Accounts.
Delete Coinbase Wallet Without Losing Funds
Next, you need to uninstall the app itself from your phone, because in the same scenario, your phone itself may have a login and password stored on it, which can still be used to re-authorize your Coinbase CEX Account via Coinbase Wallet. To do this, depending on your device, iPhone or Android uninstall the app application.
Importantly, iPhone is a closed system and once you uninstall the app, there is no easy way to view the files associated with the app.
But Android is an open system, and you can go into the system files freely and view them, while they may contain data that can help you log in again. To avoid this, before uninstalling, go to Settings, Apps, select Coinbase Wallet, delete the data and cache first, and only then the app itself. It is in this order, because after uninstalling the application, the delete data and cache features will disappear, and then you will have to look for them not in the settings, but in the deep in the operating system.
Erase the Secret Recovery Phrase
Perhaps the most underestimated step that many people naturally forget about is when they want to securely delete the Coinbase Wallet account. As carefully as you had to save and protect the secret recovery phrase during installation, you need to delete it with the same care.
If you have ever written it down on a sticker that you put just somewhere – better make yourself take the time to find it and destroy it, making the written symbols impossible to read, but not just to crumple and throw away.
After all, the secret recovery phrase speaks for itself, this is the key way to recover your wallet, which can negate all previous efforts when you deactivate Coinbase Wallet.
How to Delete Coinbase CEX Account?
At the same time, let’s look at how to delete the Coinbase CEX account itself, which requires a few extra steps for security.
Close Orders and Other Activity
If you have active orders, as well as additional activities like Coinbase Pro, staking, copy trading, and others – you need to close them all and transfer the assets to your funding account. Then you will be able to see everything in one place and send it to another platform in full.
Withdraw Funds From Your Account
Let’s assume that when you withdrew funds from your Coinbase Wallet before it was deleted, you did not send them to another wallet or CEX, but to your Coinbase CEX Account. In that case, you need to perform the same series of operations to verify and withdraw all your assets to other platforms, only now do it on Coinbase CEX.
Remove Payment Data and Other Personal Data
Before deleting your account, unlink your payment methods like bank cards, payment apps, and others that can create security issues. Of course, it is technically difficult to imagine a situation where your card could be debited from an already deleted account with closed orders, but it is still worth eliminating even this possibility.
Submit a Request for Your Data Removal
If you have undergone KYC procedures, you have been asked to provide identity documents like a passport, driving license, etc. It is a mistake to think that deleting your account will automatically delete the data that you have provided.
Each platform has its policies on this, but usually after deleting your account without a request to delete the data – platforms can keep it for at least a few years if you are not an EU citizen and are protected by GDPR.
However, even in this case, you need to write to support and formally request to have your data deleted and get an official confirmation that it has been done. We do not recommend deleting your account before going through this procedure so that you can keep as many communication options with the platform as possible, beyond just your contact email.
Close Coinbase Account
If you have carefully followed all the steps, and also taken into account your individual usage and scenarios, you can now securely close the Coinbase account. To do this, in the web version, select Profile, click Manage Profile, and scroll to the bottom where you will select Close Account.
Coinbase will ask you to enter your password, and possibly additional authentication methods like 2FA or other authentication methods you have previously set up, then click Close Account.
It will then check to see if your balance is empty and you have no open activity, but you did the right thing by following the instructions above and verifying it yourself. If Coinbase didn’t find anything like that either, then you need to finally click Close Account.
Conclusion
In general, the Coinbase Wallet account removal process is quite simple and obvious, but it doesn’t mean that there are insignificant points. All the items and their order listed here, from checking funds to deleting the application cache and data on your smartphone and searching for a stale sticker are of fundamental importance if you want to remove Coinbase Wallet safely.
While blockchain technology is inherently highly secure, the logic of the solutions that provide access to it or sloppy use cases creates security gaps.
Stay aware, and pay attention to details.
