Coinbase Commerce Drops Bitcoin Support: A Surprising Turn

On Sunday, February 18, Coinbase Commerce, the cryptocurrency exchange's platform for on-chain payments, made a significant decision to remove Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, from its list of supported payment options for merchants.

Coinbase Commerce's Forward Movement

Lauren Dowling, Coinbase's Head of Product, delivered the news to the exchange's vast user base, explaining the "difficult decision" to eliminate native Bitcoin and Litecoin support, among other UTXO tokens, from the payment platform.

The decision stemmed from Coinbase Commerce's objective to streamline crypto payments. The platform, utilizing smart contracts and other Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) tools, aimed to facilitate on-chain commerce while reducing operational and financial complexities associated with traditional systems.

Challenges with Bitcoin Integration

Dowling highlighted Bitcoin's incompatibility with the EVM-based payment protocol due to factors such as the absence of smart contracts and stablecoins on the Bitcoin network. These challenges made it difficult to seamlessly integrate Bitcoin into Coinbase Commerce's operations.

Impact on Users

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong assured users that they could still conduct Bitcoin transactions "off-chain" if they possessed a Coinbase account. Additionally, plans were unveiled to incorporate Solana and the Bitcoin Lightning Network in the near future. However, the decision to discontinue Bitcoin payments stipulated that both parties involved in the transaction must hold an exchange account, drawing criticism from the community.

Some users expressed discontent with being compelled to have an exchange account to transact with Bitcoin, particularly considering Coinbase's limited jurisdiction support.

Conclusion：Coinbase Commerce Drops Bitcoin

Coinbase Commerce, the cryptocurrency exchange's payment platform, announced the removal of Bitcoin support to streamline operations and enhance compatibility with Ethereum-based tools. Challenges integrating Bitcoin, including its lack of smart contracts, led to this decision. While users can still conduct off-chain Bitcoin transactions through Coinbase accounts, plans to incorporate Solana and Bitcoin Lightning Network have been revealed. However, requiring both parties to hold exchange accounts for Bitcoin transactions has drawn criticism from users discontent with Coinbase's limited jurisdiction support.