Crypto wallets have become one of the fastest-growing pieces of financial infrastructure on the internet. The global crypto wallet market was worth an estimated $12.59 billion in 2024, and it’s forecast to reach $100.77 billion by 2033. In the first half of 2025 alone, onchain revenue surpassed $9.7 billion.
Connecting to customers’ wallets helps your business reach users in markets where credit cards and bank payment infrastructures still lag. It also settles transactions in minutes instead of days, and reduces chargeback and fraud exposure. Below, you’ll find a practical look at how crypto wallet integration works, what kinds of wallets businesses can support, and how to build a secure, scalable foundation for onchain transactions.
What is a crypto wallet integration?
What is a crypto wallet integration?
A crypto wallet integration connects your product to the blockchain network. It allows users to store, send, and receive digital assets without ever leaving your platform.
Behind the scenes, integrations rely on wallet application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) to generate wallet addresses, fetch balances, and broadcast transactions.
There are a few ways to go about wallet integration. Each method balances convenience, control, and compliance in a different way.
You can:
Embed an existing wallet provider, so users can transact in crypto within your app
Support open wallet standards, so customers can connect their preferred wallets
Build your own in-app wallet, so you can hold or manage assets for users
What types of crypto wallets can businesses integrate?
Crypto wallets set the foundation for how your crypto experience feels. Here are the main forms of a crypto wallet.
Custodial wallets
With a custodial wallet, your business or a partner holds customers’ assets and private keys. It’s the same principle that underlies financial platforms: users sign in, recover credentials, and move funds through a familiar interface.
Non-custodial wallets
A non-custodial wallet gives users direct control of their crypto. Your platform connects to their wallet only to verify or sign transactions. Users are responsible for safeguarding their keys; if they lose access, they lose the funds.
Hot and cold storage
Software (hot) wallets live online for fast, everyday transactions. Hardware (cold) wallets store keys offline on physical devices, which prioritizes protection over convenience.
What are the benefits of wallet integration?
When wallets connect to your product, the experience changes for both you and your users. From speed to reach and transparency, here’s a closer look at the benefits of wallet integration.
Faster, borderless payments
Onchain transactions settle in minutes and work across borders with no need to rely on card networks or banking intermediaries. Businesses can send payouts or accept payments from anyone with a wallet much faster than traditional systems.
Seamless user experience (UX)
Wallet integrations let customers confirm and complete a payment in their wallet. Fewer steps and redirects can mean higher completion rates and lower abandonment rates. When crypto transactions feel familiar, people are more likely to adopt them into daily usage
Lower costs
There are fewer intermediary fees with onchain payments, which lowers payment processing costs for businesses.
Reduced fraud
Unlike credit card payments, crypto transactions can't be reversed. This removes the risk of chargebacks for businesses. Blockchain verification also makes it harder to falsify transactions, which reduces disputes and exposure to fraud for businesses.
Transparency and trust
Crypto wallet transactions are recorded onchain, which provides a trail for users and for regulators to audit later on. This level of visibility builds confidence: users can see where funds move, and your business can instantly verify transactions.
How can businesses effectively integrate crypto wallets?
Adding crypto capabilities to a product demands a set of design, security, and infrastructure choices, all of which shape how credible the experience feels.
Here are some practical steps to help you integrate crypto wallets.
Decide on who controls the keys
Start with custody. Will users manage their own wallets, or will your platform hold assets on their behalf? A custodial model lets you design a familiar, account-based experience, but it also means shouldering the full weight of security and regulatory compliance. With a non-custodial model, you never handle private keys, and users have total control and ownership over their assets.
Build on established infrastructure
You don't need to build complex blockchain infrastructure from scratch. Instead, use a proven wallet integration to handle the core mechanics for you, such as address generation, transaction signing, and balance tracking. A mature solution will support multiple blockchains and automatically adapt to network upgrades. Leveraging a reliable API is also one of the safest and most effective ways to ensure your platform can scale.
Design for clarity and usability
Onchain actions should feel straightforward. Show clear status updates, minimize jargon, and guide users through confirmations. Offer QR or deep-link flows for external wallets and intuitive recovery paths for in-app ones. The goal is to make crypto feel similar to any other payment step.
What challenges arise during crypto wallet integration?
Integrating wallets comes with a new set of challenges to manage. Here are the considerations to be aware of in your integration process.
Technical complexity
Each blockchain has its own logic for fees, confirmations, and transaction formats. This means that even with a mature API, your app must be designed to handle different networks and the security models that come with them. Even small implementation gaps can expose vulnerabilities, so the work demands thorough reviews and ongoing maintenance.
Security exposure
Wallet integrations can achieve tangible value. Weak key management, flawed permissioning, or a single unpatched library can create vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to a permanent loss of funds.
Evolving regulation
The international regulatory landscape for crypto is made up of a patchwork of regulations. A feature that’s compliant in one region might not be in another, so it's important to stay informed about changes in licensing, Know Your Customer (KYC), and reporting standards, especially for custodial setups.
What best practices ensure secure and scalable wallet integration?
Strong wallet integrations start with tight control over how keys, data, and value move through your system, and evolve as networks and regulations change.
Here’s how to integrate crypto wallets safely and sustainably.
Segment custody and control
Keep any balances you want to use in hot wallets and put long-term reserves in offline cold storage. Encrypt private keys, enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) on admin actions, and use multi-signature approvals for high-value transfers, so no single credential can move funds alone.
Instrument for visibility
Treat monitoring as infrastructure. Log every onchain and offchain event, flag unusual transfer patterns, and integrate automated alerts for abnormal activity or failed signings.
Test and harden regularly
Schedule third-party security audits, penetration tests, and disaster-recovery drills. Re-audit after any network upgrade or dependency change to ensure your wallet integration still functions securely.
Design for compliance and clarity
Incorporate KYC, Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and reporting into your transaction flow from the start if your use case requires it. Be explicit with users about custody, insurance coverage, and the security of their assets. This is the sort of transparency that will build trust.