Four in Five Crypto Holders Are Moving Away from the Big Platform One-Wallet Model

A survey from Paybis, finds four in five crypto holders prefer to use their own wallets, when many crypto platforms don’t allow them.

A crypto holder survey from Paybis, a trusted cryptocurrency platform serving 6.9 million people, finds four in five crypto holders prefer to use their own wallets, when many crypto platforms don’t allow them.

In the survey of 900 crypto holders, 54.4% said they use an external crypto wallet, while another 23.6% said they use both an external wallet and a platform-nominated wallet. Only 22% said they rely on a single wallet alone. Nearly four in five users want the freedom to use an external wallet at least some of the time.

The data suggests that wallet flexibility is no longer a specialist requirement. It is a mainstream expectation. More than a third of users, 35.18%, already had an external wallet before joining Paybis. Others said they use wallets for trading on other platforms, want to keep crypto in one place, believing external wallets are more secure, or need features their existing wallet already provides.

The research illustrates that crypto holders switch between “self-custody wallets” and “custodial wallets,” depending on the task.
“Paybis is the most efficient platform globally for buying crypto, giving us a clear edge over other wallets and services,” says Innokenty Isers, CEO of Paybis. “That efficiency is why we enable direct purchases and sales from third-party wallets. Users don’t want to be locked into a single ecosystem, they want flexibility, speed, and control. This has become a key growth driver for us, as we help millions of users globally move in and out of crypto with speed and simplicity.”

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In one-to-one interviews, Paybis found that predictable execution, cost understanding, and confidence were the most pervasive factors when a user decides whether to use a platform or an external wallet.

That behavioral reality matters because it reframes what users expect from a crypto platform. They do not want to be trapped in a closed system. They want the freedom to buy crypto and send it to the wallet they already trust, while still having the option to store assets in-platform when that is simpler.
Respondents to the survey valued ease of use and simplicity, which topped the list of what users value most (27.7%), followed by speed and fast settlement (15.6%) and wallet and transfer features, including QR scanning and recipient amount visibility (7.4%). Users are not asking for complexity – they want wallets that just work, fast, with zero friction.

Pain points that actively drive users away from platform wallets include high or opaque fees (cited by 47.82% of users as a platform pain point overall), withdrawal and deposit restrictions or delays (25.36%), and security concerns about hacks or losing access (16.84%). Addressing these directly is the clearest route to growing internal wallet adoption.
The research reveals that nearly 15% of users believe an external wallet is more secure than keeping funds on an exchange. This sentiment reflects the broader industry reality post-FTX, where self-custody has become a default for security-conscious holders. A further 5.86% say they don’t fully trust exchange wallets in general.

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