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ScryaHelp Centre

Verifying with Coinbase

To verify a balance you hold on Coinbase, you create a View (read-only) API key and paste it into Scrya. An API key lets an app look at your account without your password. A Coinbase key has two parts: an API key name and a private key. No funds move.

What permission to choose

Choose View only. Scrya only reads your account balances, so that’s all it needs. Coinbase describes View as access that doesn’t move funds out of your account.

Never tick Trade or Transfer for Scrya. Scrya doesn’t need them. Keeping the key View-only is up to you, so check it before you paste it in.

Which balances Scrya counts

When you create the key, Coinbase asks which portfolio it can access. The key only sees the accounts in that portfolio, so choose the portfolio that holds the asset you’re verifying. Scrya reads every account the key can see and adds up the available amount and any amount on hold.

Scrya connects to your regular Coinbase account. Keys for Coinbase Exchange or Coinbase Prime are different products and won’t work.

Create the key on Coinbase

Coinbase API keys are made in the Coinbase Developer Platform (CDP). You sign in with your usual Coinbase account.

  1. Go to the CDP portal’s API keys page and sign in.
  2. On the Secret API Keys tab, click Create API key.
  3. Enter a nickname you’ll recognise, such as “Scrya read-only”.
  4. Expand API restrictions. Choose the portfolio that holds your asset, and set the permission to View only. Leave the IP allowlist empty.
  5. Expand Advanced Settings and set the signature algorithm to ECDSA. Coinbase’s own instructions for these keys ask for ECDSA.
  6. Click Create API key and complete Coinbase’s security checks.
  7. Copy both values Coinbase shows you. Coinbase shows the private key only once, so copy it before you close the window.
    • the API key name, which starts with organizations/
    • the private key, a block of several lines that starts with -----BEGIN EC PRIVATE KEY-----. Copy the whole block, including the first and last lines.

Already made a key with the Ed25519 algorithm? Scrya accepts that too. If Coinbase refuses it, create a new key with ECDSA.

Add the key in Scrya

  1. Open your verification request and click Start Verification next to the asset.
  2. Choose Centralised exchange, then Coinbase.
  3. Paste the API key name into API key name.
  4. Paste the private key into Private key. The box takes several lines, so paste the whole block exactly as copied.
  5. Click Connect exchange. There’s no passphrase for Coinbase.

Scrya encrypts the key name and private key before storing them, then checks your balance straight away. When the check succeeds you’ll see Verified and your Verified balance. Click Close.

Verified with Coinbase before? Scrya may offer a saved key under Use a saved API key or add a new one. Choose it and click Reuse and verify.

Should I restrict the key to an IP address?

No. Leave the IP allowlist empty. Scrya’s checks don’t come from one fixed address, so there’s nothing you could add, and Coinbase rejects Scrya’s check if the key only works from certain addresses.

Troubleshooting

  • This looks like an old Coinbase API key: keys made under Settings → API on coinbase.com stopped working in February 2025. Create a new key in the CDP portal using the steps above.
  • The API key name doesn’t look right: paste the value that starts with organizations/ into API key name, and the private key into Private key.
  • It looks like you pasted the whole key file: if you downloaded the key as a file, don’t paste the whole file. Copy the key name and the private key into their own boxes.
  • We couldn’t read this private key: part of the private key is missing. Copy the whole block again, including the -----BEGIN EC PRIVATE KEY----- and -----END EC PRIVATE KEY----- lines.
  • Coinbase didn’t accept this API key: check that the key name and private key come from the same key, that you copied both in full, that the key hasn’t been deleted, and that its IP allowlist is empty.
  • This Coinbase API key can’t read your balances: give the key View permission for the portfolio that holds your asset.
  • Balance lower than expected: the asset may be in a portfolio the key can’t see. Create a key for that portfolio.
  • Something went wrong on our side: this one’s on us. Note the reference (ERR-XXXX-XXXX) and see Error references.

More help: Troubleshooting.

Revoke the key

Once your verification shows Verified, you can delete the key. Go back to the CDP portal’s API keys page, find the key you named for Scrya and delete it.

After that, Scrya can’t reuse the key, so you’d create a new one for a future request. Scrya deletes its own encrypted copy 30 days after your verification completes. See Revoking your API key.