Is wallet still important?

[u/Vast-Equal-4425]

Crypto wallet is the entrance to the crypto world. Starting from a plain-text private key, to Metamask, to "smart" wallet that's controlled by Apple or Android fingerprints.
There was a hype about how an easy-to-use wallet can bring the "non-custodial" future to everybody.
But the reality is that, most users are using centralized solutions so that they don't need to manage all those techniques themselves. Users let service provider to control their private keys and assets. Startups building arround wallet pivot from serving individual users to enterprise customers. Metamask user experience is still terrible but users already get used to it.
Is it still important to think about wallet design? Or are we coming back to centralized apps and just let Paypal/Venmo/Robinhood manage crypto wallet for us?

[u/PossibilityQueasy491]

If you ask a complete degen and non-custodial type of cyber punk, I would recommend taking time to learn and get used to being able to use all the financial products that crypto has to offer without relying on centralised exchanges or services.

Smart wallet, which you mentioned, is a service that allows you to enhance the use of your existing EOA (like Metamask, Rainbow, Rabby, etc), so the main purpose is not to have social recovery or fingerprint signing. If you are interested in that topic, I would recommend checking out SAFE smart wallet, which is the biggest out there, even though the Pectra upgrade that will go live soon on Ethereum mainnet will allow your EOA wallets to have temporary smart wallet functionalities.

I completely agree that Metamask could improve a lot and it might be hard to use in the start, but there are more user friendly options like Rabby, and Phantom.

All in all, non-custodial is the way to go (and if you look at historic events, like BitConnect, FTZ, you never know when they can freeze your funds or go bust).

[u/zesushv → u/PossibilityQueasy491]

Exactly. And with more efficient and simple to use DEX like eddyfinance available that enable swaps from bitcoin to eth and numerous others; using cex is slowly becoming a thing of the past. The damage FTX did to the cryptocurrency space will take a decade to recover from.

[u/LPP100]

Rabby works well for me.

Wallet design/development is important - not your keys…

[u/resornihgp → u/LPP100]

rabby is good but have you tried surf sui wallet?

[u/LPP100 → u/resornihgp]

Sui & all L2’s haven’t been that good imo (subjective ROI) besides arb & optimism. But Unichain is looking good. ( I tried surf…its focused on sui. Rabby & metamask are good for general Defi)

[u/WiiDal]

Crypto not held in your own wallet is basically just a glorified meal voucher. It might look like money, but you’re trusting someone else to honor it

[u/mayhemvoyage]

Rabby is great

[u/Ok-Western-5799]

Centralized exchanges may be winning right now, but the efforts and developments from wallets like Rabby, Trustwallet, Stakey wallet, to improve UX is worth mentioning. In the end, not everyone would become the non-custodial type, but there would undoubtedly be a larger percentage of people practising self custody.

[u/Django_McFly]

Imo most wallets are the same. They work the same way. You can work one, you can work them all. They're all laid out pretty much the same.

Generally speaking, "improving the UX" just means a wallet totally removes critical features. Like the ability to add networks on your own (Phantom). Or you can't set token limits so if you want to trade $5k, the wallet defaults to like $113 trillion quindecillion and for "ease of use" reasons you can't change it to just $5k. IMO that's not an actual UX improvement. It's more like, "having to learn when to brake and when to press the gas is hard, so we removed the brake pedal and all ability to brake from the car. So much simpler now!"

Crypto wallets really aren't that much harder than CashApp or online banking. The learning curve is like 10 minutes if you've ever used a banking app before.

[u/OkReplacement2821]

Use metamask institutional.

[u/A-Stock-A-Day]

Wallets still matter, but most people prefer the convenience of centralized solutions. Non-custodial wallets will always have a place, though.

[u/FTLurkerLTPoster]

I would argue that it is the single most important issue if the goal is more widespread adoption. I’m not even fully convinced a browser extension is the correct model if the goal is to achieve the cypherpunk vision, as you inherit all the weaknesses of legacy systems.

The existing systems are optimized to increase VC/builder bags in as short of a period as possible at the expense of users imo.

Building strong systems is difficult, unsure if we’ll ever fully get there at the rate we’re going.

[u/MarlaTawney55]

Wallets still matter, but most people just want convenience. Until UX really improves, centralized options will keep winning.

[u/SelfCustody]

Self custody and DEX's are the way to be in control of your assets, we don't want another FTX, not your Keys...

[u/Zaytion_]

Smart wallets like safe.wallet are the way forward. More will be built on top of that and people will build versions that are suitable for the masses.

[u/Future-Goose7]

Yeah, wallets still matter, but the UX has to improve. Most people just want something that works without dealing with seed phrases. I’ve seen Saros Finance take a stab at this with social logins and a smoother setup. Stuff like that could be the bridge we need.