API-First Crypto: How I Evaluated Three Wallet-as-a-Service Providers for One Product

When I started designing a new crypto product, I had two options:

1. Be a hero and build wallet infrastructure in-house
2. Be an adult and use Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS)

I chose option 2 - but picking a provider turned out to be its own mini-project.

Step 1: Pretend Marketing Pages Don’t Exist 😏

I started with three WaaS providers (названия опустим, кроме одного):

What I actually checked:

• Docs & SDKs – REST, Webhooks, WebSockets, language support
• Chains & assets – EVM, BTC, stablecoins, testnets
• Custody model – MPC vs HSM, key ownership, recovery flows
• SLAs & monitoring – uptime, status pages, incident history
• Compliance – regions, KYC/KYB expectations, audits

If your docs read like a pitch deck, you’re already losing.

Step 2: Run a “Weekend Prototype” 🧪

My rule: if I can’t build a basic flow in a weekend, I don’t trust it in prod.

The test scenario:

1. Create user wallet
2. Get deposit address
3. Detect incoming tx
4. Send withdrawal
5. Log everything cleanly

Here WhiteBIT WaaS stood out:
clear REST API, sane auth, normal examples, and predictable webhooks. I wasn’t fighting the platform; I was actually building the product.

Step 3: The Boring But Brutal Part – Cost 💸

Let’s talk numbers.

Say you have $30K to launch an MVP:

• ~$15K instantly disappears into developer salaries
• Another $5K goes to servers, key management experiments, security reviews, “oops we need that extra service”

You’ve already burned $20K before users even touch a button.

With WaaS, a huge chunk of that infra & security madness just… goes away.
Even with usage-based pricing, you’re realistically saving at least $20K in early mistakes, audits, and “rewrite from scratch” moments.

TL;DR: WaaS is cheaper not because invoices are small, but because you’re not paying to rebuild what others already hardened.

Step 4: Think Like a Product, Not Like a Node Operator 🧱

The final filter was simple:

“Does this provider let me ship faster and sleep better?”

With a solid WaaS (again, WhiteBIT WaaS did well here):

• I focus on flows, UX, and risk logic
• I don’t babysit keys, nodes, or chain quirks
• I can move from MVP → users → iteration instead of MVP → refactor → maybe users

If you’re building API-first crypto products and still planning to roll your own wallet stack “for control”, just make sure you’ve budgeted those extra $20K… and a few months of sanity 😅