A new survey from Mercuryo points to a widening gap between how Americans interact with traditional digital wallets and how they perceive crypto wallets. Out of 3,428 adults surveyed, only 12% described crypto wallets as a natural fit within their financial routines and 13% as easy to use.
By contrast, 64% and 75% said the same about mainstream digital wallets, suggesting the divide is built into how people understand the two technologies rather than caused by a simple knowledge gap.
Two major companies recently attempted to bring more people into the Web3 ecosystem by making the experience feel closer to familiar financial products.
Aave introduced a savings app with a $1 million balance protection cap and returns of up to 9%. MasterCard extended its Crypto Credential initiative to allow users of Polygon self-custody wallets to switch validated usernames for long-string wallet addresses.
Both efforts lean heavily on design cues that people already know from mainstream finance. The hope is that familiar patterns will make decentralized finance feel less intimidating. Whether that alone can change public perception is still unclear.
However, the survey suggests the real challenge may run deeper than aesthetics. Ownership patterns differ sharply across income levels. More than half of Americans with six-figure salaries now hold some form of crypto. Among households earning under $40,000, ownership drops to one in four.
Wealthier respondents were far more likely to use self-custody wallets, while low-income users often relied on high-fee options like Bitcoin ATMs or remittance services, where charges can reach 20%. The survey argues that these patterns risk reinforcing financial inequality instead of easing it.
Web3 wallets remain uncommon for a simple reason. Digital wallets from PayPal to Apple Pay hide the technical machinery behind simple taps and standard logins. Crypto wallets expose a new layer of concepts that most people have never encountered, including private keys, gas fees, and irreversible transactions.
Only 16 percent of respondents had ever seen a Web3 wallet used in person. Many described the experience of handling seed phrases or long addresses as stressful. For widespread use, technology often needs to feel invisible. Web3 wallets rarely offer that comfort.
Aave’s recent app solves this by removing the technical layer entirely. Users are given a banking-style interface with projected earnings, recurring deposits, and an ordinary savings dashboard.
The app handles keys through smart accounts controlled by an Aave-managed system, which lets it offer instant withdrawals and broad support for U.S. banks and cards. Traditional savings accounts currently yield far less, so the app positions itself as a higher-return alternative, though follow-up details show that the advertised protection comes from a private insurer rather than federal deposit insurance.
MasterCard’s update tackles a different point of friction. Sending funds to the wrong wallet address is a known source of anxiety. The expanded system assigns verified usernames to self-custody wallets after users complete identity checks. These aliases can be tied to a soulbound token that signals compliance with travel rules. The goal is to make crypto transfers feel closer to standard digital payments without removing self-custody rights.
These efforts may appeal most to well-off users who already rely on digital wallets and are comfortable with compliance checks. However, they do less for those facing high fees at physical ATMs or people attracted to crypto because it avoids identity barriers.
Aave and MasterCard hope that by borrowing from mainstream financial design, they can make decentralized tools more approachable. Whether that solves the adoption problem is unclear. Strong yields are attractive until regulators intervene. Verified usernames are convenient until they become bottlenecks.
The survey indicates that the core issue is not only interface design. It is whether people feel they have a reason to learn a new financial system at all. Next year will show whether these new attempts can persuade the large majority still on the sidelines. What isn’t in doubt is that mainstream financial entities are wanting in on this crypto movement, and industry players like Cantor Equity Partners (NASDAQ: CEP) will see this development as positive for the industry.
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