The crypto carry has a strong discussion on the different metrics, but from the past couple of years, there has been inconsistency in crypto. The public shows interest in talking up the idea of self-custody and cold wallets, although the portion is smaller when it comes to the usage, according to new research by Tangem and Protocol Theory.
That’s the most significant finding from a survey of 3,172 crypto holders in the U.S. The study concluded that 66 percent of surveyed individuals believe that self-custody is crucial, and 83 percent of those that are already using a cold wallet agree.
In reality, the adoption appears a bit different. 15 percent of survey participants maintain assets in a cold wallet. In addition, 88 percent continue to store coins in centralized exchanges, and 34 percent keep their assets in a hot wallet.
This gap is not a sign of disbelief in self-custody. The people who currently engage with cold wallets clearly and uniformly show a greater conviction in general, and more than two-thirds of such users, 69 percent, agree with the assertion that self-custody provides them with complete control over their digital assets, compared to 54 percent of crypto owners overall. In addition, significantly more than 60 percent of the cold-wallet subset believe that self-custody is a core component of the broader crypto thesis, in line with an estimated 50 percent of users across all wallets. The issue is associated with the action and is not limited to belief.
The difference is about the adoption rate
According to the report, awareness is one of the major causes that drive adoption. Nearly all participants in the survey (97 percent) pointed out that they were aware of what a centralized exchange was. Yet just a mere 67 percent claimed that they were aware of cold storage wallets, and an additional 9 percent stated that they had no idea what a cold storage wallet was at all.
That difference is reflected in adoption rates. Among users with no knowledge of wallets, only 7 percent own a cold wallet. For those who consider themselves experts, ownership jumps to 58 percent. That’s a 53 percentage point difference driven by familiarity rather than income, portfolio size, or trading activity.
This difference does seem to impact usage rates. Fewer than 7 percent of people who have never heard of a wallet own a cold storage wallet. Nearly 60 percent of crypto self-professed experts carry one. That’s an astonishing 53 percentage point disparity for information instead of money, size of wallet, or activity.
When non-users had been questioned about why they hadn’t used a cold wallet, the most common answer wasn’t about the price or complexity. But instead, 32 percent mentioned that they simply didn’t think they needed one. By comparison, 19 percent focused on complexity and 17 percent were more focused toward the cost metric.
The data is depicting something important
There’s a clear discrepancy between self-perception and reality; only 9 percent of cold wallet owners perceive themselves passive, compared to more than a quarter of users maintaining funds on a centralized exchange. In fact, 1.83x as many active traders maintain their crypto in cold storage, with a third of users on cold wallets trading, buying, selling, and storing their digital assets from the same device. In addition to storage, the utilization is already broad: 46 percent manage stablecoins, 43 percent function spanning across different wallets and chains, and 30 percent link directly to the decentralized/web3 applications.
It may actually come down to confidence, as just 33 percent of non-users found themselves comfortable with making the use of self-custody when compared with 75 percent of current cold wallet owners. As soon as they actually get set up, users primarily tend to be satisfied (81 percent for cold wallet users when compared to 62 percent for hot wallet users).
Tangem’s 2025 report mentioned the revenue of $61.3 million, and that is up 102 percent year over year, and meanwhile, monthly active users were up 50 percent. The report defines this trend as a meaningful shift toward “active self-custody,” meaning that wallets transition from storage tools to becoming active on-chain platforms.
