<p>This depends solely on trust and ease of use.</p>

<h2>Trust</h2>

<p>Who do you trust more? Coinbase's security setup or your own? Some things to consider:</p>

<ul>
<li>Coinbase makes profit from it's website and so wants people to use it. For this reason they benefit from taking security serious. They probably have a dedicated team thinking about how to improve the security of their system.</li>
<li>You own computer, let's say running Windows, is likely very much less secure. Any virus or malware can steal your coins. Also, without a backup, a disk failure will make you lose all your coins.</li>
<li>While Coinbase's security might be much stronger than yours, it is very more likely to be targeted by hacking attempts. They store a very large amount of coins, while you only store your own.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Ease of use</h2>

<p>Running a Bitcoin wallet yourself can sometimes be some hassle, while e-wallets can offer you extended functionality and features.</p>

<ul>
<li>You will need to download and sync the complete block chain, which takes around 9 GiB or storage. There are also clients that don't require you to do this, but still they have to sync all the time and use network bandwidth.</li>
<li>You will need to worry about backups. You can trust Coinbase for taking backups regularly. If you want your own wallet to be safe, however, you will have to backup them yourself.</li>
<li>Much e-wallets like Coinbase offer extra functionality, like links to information on blocks, transactions and addresses. Also many of them have a Mobile App that you can use to access your wallet with.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-21T07:23:26.483Z
It has now become very easy to "run a wallet yourself" and does not require syncing of the blockchain. Extra functionalities mentioned, such links to information, are also offered by personal wallets now.
gosuto
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-21T09:21:10.790Z
Thinking about "... probably have a dedicated team thinking about how to improve the security of their system", whether they do or do not, that didn't save the other online services that were hacked and everyone lost their bitcoins.
Willtech
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-25T11:21:59.593Z
2013-04-25T11:21:59.593Z
Steven Roose
<p>Coinbase doesn't actually run an online wallet.   They store your coin in <em>their</em> wallet, and <em>they hold the keys</em> to your money.   You are trusting them to not run a fractional exchange, since they don't publish BTC assets &amp; liability trees.  <em>Personally, I don't think that's secure at all.</em>   </p>

<ol>
<li><p>You should store the bulk your coin in your own, personal wallet with a big nice long password, or even better, with a generated password (passhash.com for example).   Electrum, CarbonWallet, Armory all make GREAT secure "deterministic" wallets.</p></li>
<li><p>Make a "seed backup" of the wallet, and keep it in a safe place.   You can print a a backup without a password if you're worried about losing the password, and lock it up.</p></li>
<li><p>Keep a second "spending" wallet around with less money in it than your main one.   Maybe a simple password to type out at a cafe, etc.   That wallet should also be backed up and imported into your cell phone (Mycelium) wallet.   Then you can easily move funds as needed from your "big" wallet that's more heavily encrypted  to your cell phone one.</p></li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-20T20:03:00.840Z
2014-03-20T20:03:00.840Z
Erik Aronesty
<p>There is no reason to use Coinbase as a wallet just because you use Coinbase as an exchange.</p>

<p>Coinbase does provide an online wallet and if you want to keep things simple, feel free to use it. But your question really boils down to which wallet should you use, since there is no significant advantage to using a wallet just because it's provided by your exchange other than reducing the number of passwords you have.</p>

<p>Steven Roose's answer goes into the details of whether you should choose an online wallet (similar to Coinbase) or run a wallet on your computer. If you decide to use an online wallet, Coinbase is just one of several choices. Coinbase's wallet is very simplistic, but if you are new to Bitcoin you may not care. Coinbase's wallet does have the advantage of allowing you to make instant purchases at places that use Coinbase's payment system.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-25T16:17:04.647Z
2013-04-25T16:17:04.647Z
David Ogren
<p>If I buy Bitcoins at Coinbase.com, should I leave them in my account at Coinbase.com, or should I move them into a Bitcoin Wallet? Why?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-25T10:02:51.813Z
possible duplicate of [Pros and cons of using Mt. Gox as an e-wallet](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/2743/pros-and-cons-of-using-mt-gox-as-an-e-wallet)
o0'.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-25T11:13:09.230Z
It's no duplicate since Coinbase is an e-wallet while MtGox is not.
Steven Roose
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-25T15:35:31.000Z
@StevenRoose That's true, but all of the arguments against Mt Gox also apply to CoinBase. Perhaps that question should be edited to be more general?
Nick ODell
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-08-13T17:14:00.453Z
How much do you trust your bank? If you don't then you keep your cash under your mattress...
Josh
<wallet>
If I buy Bitcoins at Coinbase.com, should I leave them on Coinbase.com, or should I move them into a Bitcoin Wallet? Why?
Steve
# If I buy Bitcoins at Coinbase.com, should I leave them on Coinbase.com, or should I move them into a Bitcoin Wallet? Why?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-04-25)

If I buy Bitcoins at Coinbase.com, should I leave them in my account at Coinbase.com, or should I move them into a Bitcoin Wallet? Why?

**Tags:** wallet

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: possible duplicate of [Pros and cons of using Mt. Gox as an e-wallet](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/2743/pros-and-cons-of-using-mt-gox-as-an-e-wallet)  
> **username_2**: It's no duplicate since Coinbase is an e-wallet while MtGox is not.  
> **username_3**: @username_0nRoose That's true, but all of the arguments against Mt Gox also apply to CoinBase. Perhaps that question should be edited to be more general?  
> **username_4**: How much do you trust your bank? If you don't then you keep your cash under your mattress...  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-04-25. Score: 12

This depends solely on trust and ease of use.

## Trust

Who do you trust more? Coinbase's security setup or your own? Some things to consider:

* Coinbase makes profit from it's website and so wants people to use it. For this reason they benefit from taking security serious. They probably have a dedicated team thinking about how to improve the security of their system.
* You own computer, let's say running Windows, is likely very much less secure. Any virus or malware can steal your coins. Also, without a backup, a disk failure will make you lose all your coins.
* While Coinbase's security might be much stronger than yours, it is very more likely to be targeted by hacking attempts. They store a very large amount of coins, while you only store your own.

## Ease of use

Running a Bitcoin wallet yourself can sometimes be some hassle, while e-wallets can offer you extended functionality and features.

* You will need to download and sync the complete block chain, which takes around 9 GiB or storage. There are also clients that don't require you to do this, but still they have to sync all the time and use network bandwidth.
* You will need to worry about backups. You can trust Coinbase for taking backups regularly. If you want your own wallet to be safe, however, you will have to backup them yourself.
* Much e-wallets like Coinbase offer extra functionality, like links to information on blocks, transactions and addresses. Also many of them have a Mobile App that you can use to access your wallet with.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: It has now become very easy to "run a wallet yourself" and does not require syncing of the blockchain. Extra functionalities mentioned, such links to information, are also offered by personal wallets now.  
> **username_6**: Thinking about "... probably have a dedicated team thinking about how to improve the security of their system", whether they do or do not, that didn't save the other online services that were hacked and everyone lost their bitcoins.  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2014-03-20. Score: 9

Coinbase doesn't actually run an online wallet. They store your coin in *their* wallet, and *they hold the keys* to your money. You are trusting them to not run a fractional exchange, since they don't publish BTC assets & liability trees. *Personally, I don't think that's secure at all.*

1. You should store the bulk your coin in your own, personal wallet with a big nice long password, or even better, with a generated password (passhash.com for example). Electrum, CarbonWallet, Armory all make GREAT secure "deterministic" wallets.
2. Make a "seed backup" of the wallet, and keep it in a safe place. You can print a a backup without a password if you're worried about losing the password, and lock it up.
3. Keep a second "spending" wallet around with less money in it than your main one. Maybe a simple password to type out at a cafe, etc. That wallet should also be backed up and imported into your cell phone (Mycelium) wallet. Then you can easily move funds as needed from your "big" wallet that's more heavily encrypted to your cell phone one.


---

### Answer by username_8 on 2013-04-25. Score: 3

There is no reason to use Coinbase as a wallet just because you use Coinbase as an exchange.

Coinbase does provide an online wallet and if you want to keep things simple, feel free to use it. But your question really boils down to which wallet should you use, since there is no significant advantage to using a wallet just because it's provided by your exchange other than reducing the number of passwords you have.

username_0n Roose's answer goes into the details of whether you should choose an online wallet (similar to Coinbase) or run a wallet on your computer. If you decide to use an online wallet, Coinbase is just one of several choices. Coinbase's wallet is very simplistic, but if you are new to Bitcoin you may not care. Coinbase's wallet does have the advantage of allowing you to make instant purchases at places that use Coinbase's payment system.


---

