Coinbase says Coinbase Wallet will no longer support Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, Ripple XRP, and Stellar due to “low usage”, starting January 2023
Mat Di Salvo / Decrypt :
Context & Ripple Effects
Coinbase Wallet’s pruning reverses part of Coinbase’s earlier expansion: after the 2017 fork, the company committed to adding Bitcoin Cash support. XRP had already shown how support can fragment across products, after Coinbase suspended XRP trading following the SEC suit and Binance moved to restrict U.S. XRP activity.
The new move is distinct in rationale and scope: Coinbase is removing wallet support for four networks on usage grounds, making network maintenance and user demand—not only trading availability—a distribution constraint.
First-order effects
- Coinbase Wallet users holding Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, XRP, or Stellar must move to another compatible wallet to retain access after the support cutoff.
- Coinbase reduces the product-maintenance burden associated with four low-use networks, while those networks lose availability in a Coinbase-branded self-custody product.
Second-order effects
- Wallet providers that continue supporting the four assets become the practical destination for affected Coinbase Wallet users, while the assets’ communities must preserve access outside Coinbase’s wallet ecosystem.
- The change separates exchange and wallet decisions more clearly: XRP’s earlier trading suspension was tied to the SEC case, whereas this wallet withdrawal is framed around usage.
Third-order effects
- If other wallets apply the same maintenance test, long-tail crypto networks will increasingly compete not just for listings but for ongoing integration in consumer wallet products.
- Crypto distribution may become more concentrated around networks with sufficient user activity to justify continuing wallet support, independent of any one exchange’s trading policy.
The trend: Consumer crypto wallets are evolving from broad asset catalogs toward actively curated network support based on sustained usage and maintenance value.