How free crypto wallet devs make money ?

[Becassine]

With this Atomic wallet hack, I have a lot of questions. For example, how do free wallet developers make money? It's probably a naive question, but in the end, safety also depends on the reliability of the team, and they're not going to work for free.

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[Charles-Tim]

From instant exchanges, decentralized exchanges and other means they included third parties that their wallet users can make use of, for the third parties to make money from the wallet users.

Also some coin developers can pay them to support their coin.


No need of creating multiple topics, you could have included this in your recently created topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5456558.msg62414136#msg62414136

[bitmover]

With this Atomic wallet hack, I have a lot of questions. For example, how do free wallet developers make money? It's probably a naive question, but in the end, safety also depends on the reliability of the team, and they're not going to work for free.

Most free wallets have ads or some kind of partnership with exchanges , like Coinomi wallet.

Exchange certainly pay to have those services available in the app, as it is a way to attract customers.

[safar1980]

With this Atomic wallet hack, I have a lot of questions. For example, how do free wallet developers make money? It's probably a naive question, but in the end, safety also depends on the reliability of the team, and they're not going to work for free.

The main income comes from affiliate rewards and advertising.
There are many opportunities to offer various exchanges, services and even hardware wallets for added security. Or a team invests money in a project to steal the wallet of a large company

[Charles-Tim]

Most free wallets have ads or some kind of partnership with exchanges , like Coinomi wallet.

It is true that wallet developers can gain from ads, but I have only noticed Mycelium wallet to have ads, others that I have tested out bet did not have ads. Both bitcoin and altcoin wallets. Are there other reputed wallets with ads? In my opinion, it is not good to recommend such wallet. Or what do you think?

[ImThour]

So how does Instagram make money? From it's userbase. Similar strategy is used in any *free* product. You are the money for them, the more the userbase, the more information they have and the better sponsors they can get for their product, simple as that. In case of Crypto Wallets, it's maybe that they can advertise a big Crypto coin without looking sus? IDK.

[Ambatman]

There are different ways free wallet developer's make money as some has already been stated here
Keeping not selling customers data constant
The most common is through fees generated from swapping tokens or coins in the wallet
Providing assistance in promoting other coins or tokens in the form of airdrops and they are given their commission
Creating their own native tokens
Partnership with other exchanges or platforms
Etc

[jrrsparkles]

So how does Instagram make money? From it's userbase. Similar strategy is used in any *free* product. You are the money for them, the more the userbase, the more information they have and the better sponsors they can get for their product, simple as that. In case of Crypto Wallets, it's maybe that they can advertise a big Crypto coin without looking sus? IDK.

No it's not same as social media because while creating a wallet or using it we are not giving any personal information and also we mostly use the wallets which stores the data locally which means everything is stored on our device so wallet doesn't keep any of the information.

@OP, that's interesting question though some of the most used wallet doesn't have any ads, swap feature, or flat fee structure so they are probably not making any money.

[bitmover]

Most free wallets have ads or some kind of partnership with exchanges , like Coinomi wallet.

It is true that wallet developers can gain from ads, but I have only noticed Mycelium wallet to have ads, others that I have tested out bet did not have ads. Both bitcoin and altcoin wallets. Are there other reputed wallets with ads? In my opinion, it is not good to recommend such wallet. Or what do you think?

I thought Coinomi used to have ads, but it doesn't anymore as i didn't see one now in my mobile. I use Coinomi (I know it is not the best, but just carry a few 50-100 usd in my phone)

Personally, I wouldn't care if some ad show up from time to time in a good mobile wallet. I just want some wallet which allows me receive any coin/token from the main blockchains easily, to transfer money fast.

Holding some cryptocurrencies, specially bitcoin, when travelling abroad has been proven be useful for me in the past. Sometimes international bank transfer may take a long time to get completed, and bitcoin is way cheaper and faster

[BitDane]

With this Atomic wallet hack, I have a lot of questions. For example, how do free wallet developers make money? It's probably a naive question, but in the end, safety also depends on the reliability of the team, and they're not going to work for free.

If we look at it, it is really an interesting question, I myself really does not know but I do heard that some developers are able to earn through sponsorship.  Others were paid by a company that took interest on their products and pay them to continuously develop the software.  While many were leaving on the donations of people who wanted to give back due to the help of their software.  Aside from that these developers can also offer other services where they can earn money.  Since they have proven their capability on their wallet creation, they can easily convince company that requires services of their expertise.  These developers can also introduce premium services for users that wanted advance features this way developers cam get subscription payment on their wallet.

[Becassine]

Thank you for your answers, even though we don't really know. Because in the case of crypto wallets, the devs have quite a responsibility in terms of security. It's not really the same level of responsibility as a bug on candy crush ... So what's going to happen with Atomic? Who's going to reimburse users ?

[kamvreto]

Thank you for your answers, even though we don't really know. Because in the case of crypto wallets, the devs have quite a responsibility in terms of security. It's not really the same level of responsibility as a bug on candy crush ... So what's going to happen with Atomic? Who's going to reimburse users ?

More precisely Atomic Wallet was exploited taking advantage of vulnerabilities in Atomic Wallet's security infrastructure, gaining unauthorized access to user accounts and stealing their digital assets. Many users suffered losses with this hack and even the largest user losses amounted to $ 7.95 Million in Tether. this is a huge amount and the total stolen by hackers is $35 Million.
the Atomic Wallet Developer is fully responsible for the loss of user assets and must immediately replace them when the stolen funds have been found and where they are going.

[tabas]

Aside from advertising and potential integration and partnership, I think that they're also earning a bit of percentage from the fixed or customized fee that users pay them.

Thank you for your answers, even though we don't really know. Because in the case of crypto wallets, the devs have quite a responsibility in terms of security. It's not really the same level of responsibility as a bug on candy crush ...

You're right, this wallet has got millions of users and I think with all of those years that they've operated they've managed to earn a lot of profits from every source that they can.

So what's going to happen with Atomic? Who's going to reimburse users ?

It could be some reserve funds of theirs but whether they've got a lot or none if they're not willing to refund it, they won't. But there goes the TOS that they've got.

8. Cap on Liability.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL ATOMIC WALLET BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE SERVICES EXCEEDING $50.

9. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify Atomic against any claims, damages, losses or legal fees incurred due to Your use (or misuse) of Atomic.

[Awaklara]

Thank you for your answers, even though we don't really know. Because in the case of crypto wallets, the devs have quite a responsibility in terms of security. It's not really the same level of responsibility as a bug on candy crush ... So what's going to happen with Atomic? Who's going to reimburse users ?

of course, the Atomic wallet developer has the full responsibility of returning losses from users. because the mistake was not made by the user but by the wallet security system. if it's a user error, maybe only a few users will receive a loss. but this is in large numbers and the developer Atomic should be held accountable.
a wallet like Atomic is not the best recommendation for storing assets. let alone in the thousands to millions of dollars. it's too risky.

[Onset]

So how does Instagram make money? From it's userbase. Similar strategy is used in any *free* product. You are the money for them, the more the userbase, the more information they have and the better sponsors they can get for their product, simple as that. In case of Crypto Wallets, it's maybe that they can advertise a big Crypto coin without looking sus? IDK.

The actually free crypto wallets have teams that rely on their main job and donations. Believe it or not, people who do this for everyone else and not for personal gains still exist. They’re rarities, but they exist.

As you may expect, donations usually aren’t considerable and they’re more like tipping. That’s why they have to rely on other sources of income. I’d guess there are also a few devs who have enough money and passive income to not give a shit about being paid to do fun development stuff.

[dzungmobile]

The actually free crypto wallets have teams that rely on their main job and donations. Believe it or not, people who do this for everyone else and not for personal gains still exist. They’re rarities, but they exist.

As you may expect, donations usually aren’t considerable and they’re more like tipping.

Donation mean they don't consider it as their main income. They work like a habit to serve what they like to do and donations can be small or big, sometimes donation is big but they don't expect big donation to keep their projects running.

That’s why they have to rely on other sources of income. I’d guess there are also a few devs who have enough money and passive income to not give a shit about being paid to do fun development stuff.

Donations are popular with open source projects like you can get list of Bitcoin Core developers and their donation addresses.
Bitcoin Donation Portal

Support bitcoin developers so they can focus on building our future

[FinneysTrueVision]

Most wallets have a bunch of unnecessary crap included in them. Almost every altcoin wallet has a Changelly integration or some other sort of instant exchange service. Some wallets are owned by popular exchanges like Coinbase or Binance. They don't necessarily need to make money from their wallet because they already have other sources of revenue, although they usually still include all this other stuff where they collect affiliate commissions and trading fees.

Wasabi, Samourai, and Sparrow wallets all have a built in coinjoin mixer where they earn fees. These are a few of the wallets that actually provide a useful service.

[Adams0001]

Fees are commonly used in the business strategies of concentrate ones. They charge a set fee for undertaking (some even demand a wage for deposits), then finish transactions for all of their customers in batches, saving on the actual cost of mining fees and keeping the difference.

[suzanne5223]

From instant exchanges, decentralized exchanges and other means they included third parties that their wallet users can make use of, for the third parties to make money from the wallet users.

This is normal for most free crypto wallet devs and they cut in every successful trade done by their use on the DEX. Besides, another project that offers almost this exact service is BestChange. Have not to wonder how they are making their money while they are not an exchange.

Also some coin developers can pay them to support their coin.

That's correct and always some sort of partnership between the coin developers and the free wallet or DEX exchange.

[dkbit98]

With this Atomic wallet hack, I have a lot of questions. For example, how do free wallet developers make money? It's probably a naive question, but in the end, safety also depends on the reliability of the team, and they're not going to work for free.

They are mostly making money from donations or from partnership and investment deals.
Some wallets made partnership with instant centralized exchanges and they are taking percentage of the profit, others are providing coinjoin services for profit, etc.
I think that Electrum and similar wallets (Sparrow, Specter, Lily, etc.) are fully working on donations, and they started as open source community projects.
Closed source wallets should be avoided because they are always hiding something.

So what's going to happen with Atomic? Who's going to reimburse users ?

I think they are going to shut down their business verysoon, and last thing I heard they are in Kazakhstan court.