Small cryptocurrency wallets face significant revenue challenges as users frequently leave their platforms to complete transactions elsewhere. According to Yana Mar, Head of B2B and Partnerships at ChangeNOW, users who open wallets, search for swap buttons, and don't find them often close the app and complete trades elsewhere, taking the fee revenue with them. As reported by Mar at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, this creates poor user experience and reduces wallet retention, even though the user remains a customer of the wallet. The community itself doesn't pay, she explained, emphasizing that storage alone brings wallets nothing unless users can also transact within the platform. ChangeNOW's Martin Masser adds that this problem extends beyond trading, noting that some traders transact constantly while others might make a swap every few days or once a week, making retention challenging across different user segments.
Crypto platforms are increasingly adopting the super app model that combines trading with services such as payments and borrowing to give users reasons to return between transactions. According to Masser's analysis, users engage with platforms in very different ways, with some checking balances frequently while others focus on trading activities. The key insight is that people use the apps in very different ways, and a platform can become useful across someone's financial life without demanding the attention of a messaging service. Kaiko's 2026 research describes exchanges expanding into broader financial platforms, connecting trading balances to yield products and spending services, creating more opportunities to retain customers and their funds. This approach addresses the fundamental challenge of moving money across multiple apps, making it much easier to have it in one place for users with complex financial needs.
Small wallet teams face the heaviest burden from infrastructure costs, which weigh heavily on their operations. According to Mar's analysis, wallets wanting income from their community should offer swaps, buy and sell features, staking and trading capabilities. Keeping these tasks inside the app gives users a reason to stay and raises in-app activity. Her advice to small teams is to skip building from scratch and plug in ready-made solutions for fiat, swaps, and staking instead of developing everything in-house. This approach allows wallets to add features quickly and efficiently while maintaining cost efficiency. Masser emphasizes that there's no point adding something that doesn't make sense for the product, focusing on services that fit together naturally and allow users to move from one task to the next without confusion.
For small wallets competing against industry giants that offer comprehensive services, Mar recommends focusing on specific audiences or regions. She identified five ways a small wallet can stand out: regional focus with local payment methods and support teams, audience-specific features like Dreamster for music fans, security-focused positioning, speed advantages in feature deployment, and quality user experience maintenance as products grow larger. A small team can ship features in a week that take a big wallet months or quarters, she noted, while maintaining better user experience standards. Masser's experience with TON Foundation demonstrates that just because you think you have a big audience does not mean you're going to have a naturally successful product, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer needs and working to reach them effectively.
ChangeNOW launched its Free Fast Track program in March for new and early-stage wallets, offering help with traffic and profit. Participants integrate ChangeNOW's exchange API and earn revenue from swaps starting at 0.4% share. The program includes marketing support from cross-promotion and press releases to podcasts and TOKEN2049 presence. For support issues, Mar established clear responsibility boundaries: the exchange provider is responsible for solving transaction problems, while the wallet handles user relationships. Masser describes ongoing work to understand a partner's customers and help a product find its market, noting that you don't want to have a partnership just to have your name on a press release. This approach ensures efficient resolution while maintaining user trust and engagement within the platform.
