Pro
Navigating the Evolving Wallet Landscape
Key Insights
- Wallets have transitioned from third-party applications responsible for only signing transactions to core demand channels, which has proven to be a valuable application position.
- Teams are now innovating at each level of the wallet stack, unlocking both new applications and creating new markets for wallet distribution.
- Consumer external wallets, such as MetaMask, have fared well historically, but face potential challenges as crypto applications move towards a mobile-first approach.
- Wallet infrastructure aggregators and key management systems will likely benefit from an influx of new crypto applications, as they provide the core wallet infrastructure powering these applications, and their revenues generally scale in line with application growth.
The crypto wallet has, in many ways, been a reflection of the state of crypto more broadly. In the earliest of days, the wallet had minimal functionality, serving the main value driver of crypto – a store of value, not a bustling platform for applications.
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Prior to joining Messari, Seth worked in traditional finance software and services, and has a MSc in Applied Mathematics. Seth is a Senior Research Analyst on the Enterprise Research team, and focuses on infrastructure, verifiable compute, and the AI x Crypto intersection.
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