Wrapping crypto assets helps Coinbase extend token utility by enabling yield farming, liquidity provision, trading, and lending without selling native coins.

Quotes that support claims

Wrapped assets remove a key point of friction by allowing customers to use more assets they already hold in new ways on-chain," they added, "including lending, borrowing and tapping into other novel DeFi use cases.

However, using wrapped tokens allows holders and users to interact in onchain activities like yield farming, liquidity pools, trading, and lending — all without selling their original tokens.