The Wallet Era Is Here — Trust Wallet CEO on Competing with Banks and the Role of TWT

By January 2026, Trust Wallet’s user base had surpassed 220 million — three times that of fintech giant Revolut. Against this backdrop, the team announced a paradigm shift: the wallet is evolving from a simple asset “safe” into a full-fledged alternative to banks and exchanges.

Incrypted spoke with Trust Wallet CEO Eowyn Chen about the project’s development. We discussed the launch of the Trust Alpha navigation hub, superapps, and the synergy with the Binance ecosystem that replaces direct competition.

We also explored the role of the TWT token, activity on the BNB Chain, and the technical challenges of an “omnichain future” where users no longer need to think about blockchain selection.

Where is the Trust Wallet headed? What are the key milestones for the next five years?

Trust Wallet is already in its next era — with wallets evolving from “just a place to store crypto” into a full gateway for the onchain economy and the main way people experience Web3 day to day.

We believe wallets will replace banks and CEXs. I want to argue that we are crossing the chasm right now and the Wallet Era is here. If we are looking at the numbers: mainstream fintech bank Revolut is 65M users; in contrast Binance is about to cross 300M for the industry, and TW also passed 220M device download mark. We are 3-4X of a mainstream consumer fintech product size.

Over the next few years, our roadmap expands across three core layers:

• Everyday finance: seamless sending, spending, and swapping – including gas-free transactions and tools like Trust Pay and Trust Card.
• Advanced trading: perpetuals up to 100x, smarter execution with limit orders and DCA, AI-powered insights, and seamless cross-chain swaps.
• Earning and growth: through Trust Alpha and TWT-powered rewards, where users can stake, earn yields, and access early project opportunities.

TWT is at the center: powering access, participation, and utility across everything we build.

Despite your strong connection with BNB Chain, Trust Wallet has always been a multi-chain wallet. Will that omnichain approach remain central?

Absolutely. Trust Wallet is multi-chain first; we currently support 100+  blockchains, and that’s not changing.

BNB Chain has been one of our strongest partners and one of the most active ecosystems for retail users, but our mission is chain-agnostic. We believe the future is omnichain – where users don’t have to think about what network they’re on. So we’re continuing to invest in tools that make cross-chain activity seamless, whether that’s through our swap aggregator, cross-chain bridges, or even gas sponsorship

You recently integrated cross-chain swaps. How is that implemented, and how popular is it among users?

We launched our cross-chain swap feature some time ago. But is built directly into Trust Wallet’s swap aggregator, which combines liquidity from multiple DEXs and bridge providers. It abstracts away the technical complexity so users can move assets across chains in just one tap.

Since launch, we’ve seen strong traction – especially among users who are active on both BNB Chain and Ethereum or Layer 2 networks. The usage data confirms what we’ve believed for a while: people want the flexibility of multichain DeFi, but with simplicity that feels like using a single network.

Which networks are most popular among Trust Wallet users today?

BNB Chain remains one of the most active, especially for retail users trading or exploring memes and more. Ethereum and Polygon are consistently strong for DeFi, and we’ve seen significant growth on Base and Arbitrum recently as well.

That diversity of activity (swapping, earning, memes) really highlights the importance of staying chain-neutral and user-driven.

Doesn’t Trust Wallet compete with Binance Wallet — which your team also helped develop?

It’s more of a synergy than competition. Binance Wallet is optimized for users within Binance, for example, people who want a seamless experience between CEX and DeFi.

Trust Wallet, on the other hand, serves as the broader self-custody platform — for users who want full independence, multichain flexibility, and deeper Web3 access. They complement each other, and together they help accelerate crypto adoption at scale.

You also launched Trust Alpha. Why did you build it, and how will it compete in that niche?

Trust Alpha was created as an onchain discovery hub – a way for users to explore new assets, DApps, and opportunities safely from within Trust Wallet.

The biggest challenge in DeFi and Web3 is signal vs noise: a lot of users don’t know which projects are real or worth exploring. Alpha helps surface verified, trending, and context-rich insights that help users act with confidence.

We’re not trying to compete directly with DEXs or analytics platforms, we’re bridging usability and trust, which has always been our core advantage.

Rooted in the Binance ecosystem, Trust Wallet is and will continue to be where many projects debut before reaching larger platforms within the Binance Ecosystem. With Trust Alpha projects that engage the Trust Wallet community can position themselves for broader Binance ecosystem opportunities; the largest in crypto. For TWT holders and Trust Wallet users, it means early access to tomorrow’s biggest projects. For builders, it means instant distribution at massive scale.

Speaking of BNB Chain — there’s been a lot of buzz lately. What’s driving that momentum?

BNB Chain’s resurgence comes down to two factors: community and infrastructure. The ecosystem has become a hub for retail experimentation — memecoins, social tokens, new DeFi primitives — while maintaining strong developer support and liquidity from Binance.

So while CZ’s legacy and leadership have always been influential, the current growth feels much more grassroots and ecosystem-driven.

Are you seeing net inflows of liquidity into the BNB Chain? Which apps stand out?

Yes, we’re seeing healthy inflows, especially in the memecoin and retail DeFi sectors.

Four.meme has clearly become a central hub for meme culture. Other standouts include PancakeSwap’s continued dominance in DEX activity and the growing ecosystem of yield and socialFi protocols building around BNB Smart Chain and opBNB.

It’s a very vibrant, user-driven environment right now.

You recently announced a partnership with Aster to launch perpetual futures. Why add that functionality?

Perpetual trading is one of the most in-demand features among advanced DeFi users. By partnering with Aster, we can offer secure, self-custodial access to perps directly within the Trust Wallet interface.

It’s part of our broader roadmap to make Trust Wallet a true all-in-one gateway — where users can manage, swap, stake, and now trade derivatives without leaving self-custody.

What’s driving the current “perp DEX mania”?

It’s the natural next step after the spot DEX boom. Traders are demanding decentralized versions of the tools they’re used to on CEXs i.e. leverage, derivatives, high performance but without counterparty risk.

Better L2 infrastructure and more efficient onchain matching engines are making that possible. It’s an exciting time for DeFi, we’re seeing real innovation, not just copies of centralized models.

How would you describe the evolution of the wallet sector? Are we heading toward super-apps?

Definitely. Wallets are no longer just key managers or asset holders, they’re becoming the user’s primary interface with Web3. The user’s Web3 companion.

We’re moving from passive storage to active engagement: trading, discovery, social, and even identity. You could call it a “super-app” model, but I see it more as a “super-layer”; the connective tissue that ties all of Web3 together.

As mentioned above, Trust Wallet is already in its next era — with wallets evolving from “just a place to store crypto” into a full gateway for the onchain economy and the main way people experience Web3 day to day. Our mission is to onboard the next billion users by making crypto as easy to use as any other digital payment. We believe wallets will replace banks and CEXs. I want to argue that we are crossing the chasm right now – and the Wallet Era is here.