When a crypto wallet user cannot find a way to swap assets in the app, they may complete the trade elsewhere. The wallet could retain the user, but the transaction fees go to another platform. At TOKEN2049 in Singapore, Yana Mar, who leads B2B and partnerships at ChangeNOW, said smaller wallets can improve retention and revenue by letting users swap, buy, sell and stake assets without leaving the app.
Asset storage alone brings little revenue
Holding assets in a wallet does not automatically generate income for its operator, Mar said. A wallet can share in transaction fees when users swap or make other transactions within the app. Without an integrated swap feature, users typically leave to trade elsewhere, taking that activity and its associated fees with them.
Adding swaps, buying and selling, staking and trading can increase in-app activity. But building, maintaining and operating the underlying infrastructure can put a heavier burden on small teams. Rather than develop fiat on-ramps, swap systems and staking services from scratch, wallets can integrate established third-party solutions and bring products to market faster.
That approach turns a wallet from a place to store assets into a venue for completing transactions. Each time users can avoid switching apps, the wallet has a better chance of retaining activity and potential revenue.
Smaller wallets need a defined audience
Large wallets already offer a broad range of services, including stablecoin payments, trading and tokenized stocks. Smaller teams are unlikely to match every product line, so Mar recommends focusing on a particular region, user group or product proposition instead of trying to replicate a large platform.
A regional strategy might include local payment methods and customer support teams familiar with the market. A wallet aimed at a specific community could build around a shared interest. Dreamster, a participant in ChangeNOW's Fast Track program, targets music fans with digital music assets. Users can buy a share of an individual song, play it in the wallet and sell that share if they choose.
Security can also serve as a point of distinction. With hacks recurring across the crypto market, users are paying closer attention to how wallets protect assets. Smaller teams may also be able to move quickly: they can launch a feature in a week that might take a large wallet months or even quarters. The user experience matters too, since adding more features does not necessarily make a large app easier to navigate.
“Zero fees” may still leave users with costs
Some large wallets have waived their own fees on selected stablecoin swaps, a pricing strategy that can be difficult for smaller providers to match. Mar said such offers usually apply only to certain networks and tokens, and waive the wallet's fee rather than the network fee. Cross-chain swaps are often excluded.
Instead of competing on a “zero-fee” label, smaller wallets can assess the amount users ultimately receive, the range of swaps available and the overall process. The final amount delivered may matter more to users than the fee shown on screen. Mar said about 98% of swaps on ChangeNOW have slippage of around 0.5% or less between the expected and final exchange price.
Competition between wallets is not limited to the fee page. Cross-chain support, access to less common assets, transaction success rates and the amount received can all affect whether users keep trading in the app.
Providers handle swap issues, while wallets own the customer relationship
A practical question arises when an integrated swap fails: who investigates the transaction? Mar said the service provider is responsible for examining and resolving transaction issues, while the wallet maintains the relationship with the user.
Under ChangeNOW's partner process, a wallet shares the transaction ID with ChangeNOW, which checks the status and cause of the failure. Partners can use the same process for user errors, such as sending assets over the wrong network, selecting the wrong token or omitting a required memo.
This arrangement means a wallet does not need to build a full transaction-investigation team. It does, however, depend on clear ticketing and information-sharing procedures between the wallet and provider. Users are still likely to contact the wallet's support team first, so the provider's ability to resolve technical issues can affect the wallet's reputation.
Fast Track offers wallets a share of swap revenue
In March, ChangeNOW launched its Free Fast Track program for new and early-stage wallets. Partners that integrate the company's swap API can earn a share of user swaps once the feature is live, starting at 0.4%. ChangeNOW also offers promotional support, including cross-promotion, press releases, podcasts and exposure related to TOKEN2049.
The model links a wallet's revenue potential to its user base and how often people transact. Smaller teams can avoid the upfront cost of building all the trading infrastructure themselves, but still need an audience that uses the product regularly. Mar said wallets first need to attract users and encourage activity before transaction revenue can follow.
Security remains a priority for wallet operators
Mar said the crypto industry lost about $1 billion to hacks over the past six months, describing hacking and scams as persistent barriers to broader crypto adoption. PeckShield data showed related losses of $766.49 million in September alone, including about $387 million associated with a security incident involving Bitget.
Loss estimates can differ depending on how they are measured, but that does not make users less sensitive to security incidents. Mar said wallets need to give users confidence in how their assets and transactions are protected, not simply add more features.
She recommends expanding products in response to user feedback rather than building every module from scratch. ChangeNOW lets partners receive swap revenue in any supported asset. After partners raised concerns about price volatility, the company added an option to convert proceeds automatically into USDT or another selected currency.
To address wallet operators' reluctance to handle support cases involving KYC and anti-money-laundering checks, ChangeNOW also developed a pre-check mechanism that rejects deposits that cannot be completed. Mar said this brought related support cases close to zero.
She also cited demand for gas-free USDT swaps on the Tron network. Users who want to swap Tron-based USDT for bitcoin would normally need TRX to cover network fees. The gas-free option lets them send USDT directly, reducing a potential barrier between registering and completing a first transaction.
For smaller wallets that cannot compete with large platforms on price alone, the test is whether users can complete the transaction they came to make. Swap availability, the amount delivered, support and security all affect whether transaction revenue stays in the app or goes elsewhere.