Coinbase just released a new kind of wallet for digital assets, but it relies on cloud services to allow its users to transfer it between devices.

Why it matters: Historically, cryptocurrency believers have valued the ability to trust no one but themselves.

Between the lines: Coinbase's offering levels up the user experience for cryptocurrency, providing a smart wallet that will be much easier to use.

• That said, people who care about maximizing control of their assets might want to take note.

Coinbase's new smart wallet uses passkeys. This is a way of using machines to generate cryptographic keys off things like face IDs or fingerprints, stuff that our mobile devices have gotten us all comfortable using.

• Not only is it quite secure, but it's fast.
• The wallet is also going to enable cool new functions, such as allowing companies to cover their users' transaction costs on the company's Base chain.

Friction point: Coinbase Wallet really only works with cloud-based backup. This means you are relying on a trusted environment to make sure you have backup for your wallet if, for example, you lose your phone.

Between the lines: There's no option to output a recovery passphrase that you can write down.

• And while I was able to create a wallet with a YubiKey on a Mac, I couldn't use that key to recreate the wallet on a second device.

Zoom out: This might not be a disaster, but it's not ideal in a space where trustlessness is a key value.

• On the other hand: Getting started in cryptocurrency can be a real pain point.

What they're saying: "I agree that smart wallets are not necessarily the right solution for every crypto use case," Sara Houston, from Coinbase's communications team, tells Axios. "Many of our customers have more than one wallet for different use cases, which we welcome and encourage."

• "Smart wallets allow people who are new [to] crypto to jump in immediately."

💭 Our thought bubble: Please, if you have valuable assets or significant amounts of cryptocurrency, move those to a more trustless wallet, such as a hardware wallet or a good multiparty wallet.

• Think of the new Coinbase Wallet like you would a real one. It's for your spending money. It's not for your retirement savings.

Go deeper

Ledger's Stax hardware wallet is shipping now.

Flashback: We wrote about its cool new e-ink display wallet back in 2022, saying that it should come out in early 2023.

• It did not.

The latest: They aren't available to order yet, but people who pre-ordered them are in the queue for a shipment.

• And Crystal got to see one at Consensus in Austin.

💭 Crystal's thought bubble: The TOUCH and feel of this thing is something else. It's excellent. I cannot describe the subtle difference in the tactile, but I can see it having an iPod-level following.

• Stax will be able to handle hundreds of cryptocurrencies as well as NFTs. Balances can be checked with its mobile app.
• If you have more than one Stax, they stick together with magnets in a cute way — Ledger's Ian Rogers demonstrated this for Axios, tossing one against another to make them snap, with a satisfying click, into a neat stack of mini books.

What they're saying: "We expect to open orders for new customers later this summer, once preorders are fulfilled," Phillip Costigan, a Ledger spokesperson, tells Axios.

Worthy of your time: The company made the 20-minute documentary above to help explain why people had to wait so long.

• Basically, they were pushing the boundaries of technology as Ledger had a lot of bad luck with its supply chain.

The big picture: Ledger promises the Stax is much easier to use than hardware wallets seen so far (they are a bit of a pain). So Coinbase is making software wallets easier and Ledger is coming for simpler hardware, too.

• At $300, the price for the Stax is steep, but for some folks that's a pittance compared to how much crypto they own.

A group of over 100 former federal prosecutors and federal agents yesterday sent a letter to Secretary of State Tony Blinken, asking that the U.S. government "step up its efforts" to secure the release of crypto executive Tigran Gambaryan from a Nigerian prison, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: This increases pressure on the State Department, one day after it received a similar letter from 16 members of Congress.

Catch up quick: Gambaryan is a U.S. citizen, head of financial crime compliance at Binance, and a former special agent with the Internal Revenue Service.

• He traveled to Nigeria after the country accused Binance of contributing to a crash of the local currency. He was arrested and charged with such crimes as tax evasion and money laundering.
• His supporters argue that Gambaryan is a scapegoat at best and political prisoner at worst.
• This includes the letter signees, many of whom worked with Gambaryan on investigations ranging from drug trafficking to child pornography.
• Nigerian officials have defended their actions.

What they're saying: The letter reads, "A former U.S. federal agent has been effectively held hostage in deplorable conditions for nearly three months by a foreign power in an apparent attempt to compel his employer to settle a matter that does not implicate him."

Behind the scenes: The letter was spearheaded by Katie Haun, a former federal prosecutor and current crypto venture capitalist.

🗻 Mountain Protocol, which makes a stablecoin that has yield from Treasuries, raised $8 million from top crypto VCs. (Multicoin)

🇪🇸 Roger Ver is out on bail, without a passport, in Spain, while the U.S. pursues extradition over unpaid taxes. (Bloomberg)

🚨 New York's attorney general is suing two companies over an alleged billion-dollar fraud that targeted networks of immigrant communities. (Release)

👀 Telegram has created an in-app currency that looks like a bridge between fiat and toncoin. (Telegram)

Maybe the most hotly awaited crypto-powered video game will drop its trailer today at 2pm ET, ahead of its July release.

Why it matters: Crypto gaming is one of the great hopes from the industry, because it promises a way to create an all-online economy.

• While players might have to buy in to a game, they will also earn crypto assets by playing.
• The best players will come out ahead, and the rest will at least have a sense of control over their in-game assets.

Details: The game will actually be three games: an open-world monster hunter, an auto battler and a world-building game.

Zoom in: Illuvium token, ILV, has been on the market since long before the game went live. At times, it traded for over $1,000.

• These days, it trades for a little under $100, but that's well up from the $40 to $50 range where it was trading in fall 2023.
• It also sold $72 million worth of digital land in 2022.
• The game has $15 million in VC backing from Framework Ventures.

Zoom out: As an aside, before getting excited about an NFT-linked video game, be sure to look for signs that the team is credible.

What we're watching: The Illuvium game will launch on July 25.