Coinbase has removed support for native Bitcoin (BTC) and other unspent transaction output (UTXO) coins from its payment platform for merchants, Coinbase Commerce, according to the company’s head of product, Lauren Dowling
In a Feb. 18 thread on X (formerly Twitter), Dowling said the company “made the difficult decision to remove native Bitcoin & other UTXO support” from Coinbase Commerce, citing difficulties in delivering recent updates on its EVM payment protocol for Bitcoin.
Shoppers paying with Coinbase Commerce will still be able to use Bitcoin if they have an account with the exchange, noted its CEO, Brian Armstrong, on X, adding that the company is in the process of integrating the Lightning Network into Coinbase.
“Hopefully there are opportunities to make commerce payments with Lightning in the future,” commented Armstrong. The Lightning Network is a payment protocol designed to facilitate transactions within the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin transactions have been running on the protocol since 2017.
To keep track of transactions, Bitcoin uses the UTXO model, or unspent transaction output. It’s designed for transparency and security, in contrast to Ethereum’s account model, which is similar to traditional bank accounts and allows more flexibility. The UTXO model is also used by coins forked from Bitcoin, like Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), Dash (DASH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
The decision to remove native Bitcoin sparked community criticism on social media platforms, with some users pointing out how the removal affects Bitcoin adoption.
“Is it assumed every customer is in the US and able to open a Coinbase account and/or that every customer would want a Coinbase account? That’s like dictating that every customer has to be a Bank of America customer in order for merchants who simply bank with BofA to accept payments,” noted a pseudonymous user.
Coinbase is often acting as if they are fighting the good fight, but don’t be fooled, they aren’t.
Example, ‘Coinbase Commerce’ no longer supports payments from self-custody wallets or third party exchanges:
‘You can still accept Bitcoin, […] payments as long as your… pic.twitter.com/vgyTO7MLLq— CR1337 (@cryptonator1337) February 18, 2024