How Do Wallet Developers Profit Anyway?

Exchanges make big bucks with their fees and listing costs, but how do wallet devs cash in? Seems like creating a non-custodial wallet is free... so what's their business model?

Honestly, some don't make a dime. Take Electrum, for example. Others mix in services that bring in revenue, like partnerships with exchanges or DeFi projects.

This has been chatted about before, just search for threads like "How do free wallet services make money?" or "Can making a wallet make you rich?". It’s interesting stuff.

You gotta admit, devs don’t always get the recognition they deserve. If they’re not connecting with the community, how do they know what’s needed? Many rely on donations from users who appreciate their work.

Yeah, but some wallets do charge fees. It’s not a guaranteed income, though. Many might be doing it for the love of the game, not the cash.

I think Electrum gets some donations and grants. It’s sad they don’t have more cash flow options besides their 2FA...

Look at github there's ppl giving software for free. Some devs are getting donations to help cover some costs but many don't ask. If they're coding most of the project they can add a donation address if they want.

There is a donation button directly inside the Wasabi Wallet app. This prefills the silent payment (BIP352) address for the developers. I donated 100k sats to Zeus Wallet some time ago which got me listed in their contributors section. Zeus has some awesome merchandise you can buy as well. Phoenix Wallet charges a fee of 0.4% + 4 sats for each Lightning payment.

Don't they also run the default centralized coordinator thing and receive a commission from the mixing transactions? There is also the cooperation with blockchain analysis (anti-privacy) companies which I'm sure generates the Wasabi team a good additional revenue...

Donations for the good wallets.  People that write good bitcoin software are likely to also have large bitcoin holdings already.  You must have lost the last episodes.  The default coordinator (zkSNACKs) has been shutdown.  People now use Kruw's coordinator, which is free and has large volume.

Donations don't usually pour in for the open-source wallet projects. It's the Achilles' heel for the wallet developers, because if they don't have another source of income, then they can't pay for the bills! It's the kind of constraint that prevents many developers from working full-time on the program, which in turn delays lots of features from being implemented, which in turn leads to less users, and less users leads to less donations, and the cycle continues. So yeah. Unless you are lucky and received a grant, this is a day in the life of a wallet developer.

There is not "they". Wasabi is not developed by a company anymore and everybody can run a coordinator, in fact the coordination service is currently provided by independent volunteers (you can become one). Hahahaha I believed that nobody with an average IQ could ever believe it but it seems I was wrong. This was just another of the Samourai's masterlies targeting idiots.

I would think that developers on Bitcoin can help improve their skills in various areas and then present their ability to fix bugs and maintain software a part of their portfolio, this would help them getting a job, which they can use to buy Bitcoin, and so they can continue to be developers. It is on the self-interest of any Bitcoin holder to maintain the network and keep it safe from bugs and spam even tho some don't get this later part.

Yeah like takuma sato says above, it's a good addition on their overall portfolio. The good thing is that since there are too many wallets out there, even if you narrow down your selection to the most reputable ones, you can find a language you're comfortable with and contribute there. So, you don't necessarily need to know C++ (Bitcoin Core's language), in order to contribute. This sets the space for many contributions in an open-source environment.

Open source projects are often built in a way that would allow different programming languages to be use in contribution and others can cross check incase there are bugs or malicious intent on it. To be honest, this is a good way to strengthen ones skill or resume but the need to have a stable means of income would affect dedication to this project, except they have stable income and time for it.

Devs can get money by giving help to improve bitcoin & bitcoin wallets but OP's asking about how bitcoin wallet devs make profits from creating wallets. If they aren't sold they could be open source so they'll ask for donations.

Unless the open-source product is produced by a company that has a relatively steady cash flow and a fixed amount of employees, then getting a salary isn't guaranteed. In fact, it's the opposite! Are there open-source products produced by companies that pay their devs? Of course! And you can also contribute in these products, but if you 're not in their payroll, you will not get a salary.

This is what I was trying to say earlier, expect they are having free time to spare from their jobs and also being able to cover every bills they may be having, there would be limitation for them to be dedicated to an open source projects except they are getting paid or it's a part of their goal/dream to solve such problem they won't give their dedication.

Well let me just put it this way everything isn't literally about money sometimes when it comes to something transparent and decentralized like Bitcoin enthusiasm comes into a play. Basically non-custodial open source wallet developers do not earn a dime directly from their applications or softwares they produce and manage that is the reason why they rely on both community support and most of the time donations from other enthusiast to fund the projects.

If it's a commercial project devs will be paid because they're like employees. If it's a small team making the project they won't have fixed salary. There's going to be donations buttons & donations links so devs can receive money from ppl who appreciate their work.