Field notes · wallet-first · October 2026
What the user actually sees.
Screen-by-screen notes on embedded wallet login, and on the one identity check we are willing to describe. Test mode only. No real IDs. The name says KYC. The first shelf is wallets, because that is the flow we can write down without borrowing someone else’s vendor terms.
- Wallet vendors
- 5
- Identity vendor
- 1
- Comparisons
- 6
- Captures in hand
- 4
The contact sheet
Empty on purpose. A frame fills when a capture exists.
Wallets
The shelfPrivy, Dynamic, MetaMask Embedded, thirdweb, and Crossmint. Launch order, not a score.
- 01PrivyAuth and embedded wallets for apps that want a user onchain without a seed phrase.
- 02DynamicLogin, user management, and non-custodial embedded wallets, with a wide external-wallet catalog.
- 03MetaMask EmbeddedMetaMask’s embedded wallet SDK, formerly Web3Auth: email, social, or an existing wallet, then a non-custodial key.
- 04thirdwebIn-app wallets inside a broader onchain platform: connect UI, account abstraction, contracts, and RPC.
- 05CrossmintSmart wallets for end users, with auth, gas sponsorship, and optional card funding on the same platform.
KYC
Why only oneDidit is the identity vendor at launch. Others are waiting on terms, not on a verdict.
Capture pending
Didit
Self-serve identity checks with a public price list. Not a wallet. The only KYC profile until the other terms are read.
Latest notes
· Site
Wallet-first notes open, with empty frames
· Public record
Didit announces a pricing change for November 1
· Public record
MetaMask Embedded Wallets takes the Web3Auth name off the front door
· Public record
thirdweb publishes lower per-user wallet prices
Comparisons
Side by side on public positioning. Every measured cell still says pending. Neither column is a recommendation.
- Privy vs DynamicTwo embedded-wallet stacks with a wide login surface. What we can defend today is context and pricing shape, not which modal is faster.
- Privy vs thirdwebA wallet-and-auth layer next to a platform that also deploys contracts. The login lists overlap. The invoice does not.
- Dynamic vs MetaMask EmbeddedTwo non-custodial embedded wallets with email and social login. The brand, and what the free plan lets you restyle, are the public differences.
- thirdweb vs CrossmintAn in-app wallet on a developer platform, next to a smart wallet aimed at consumer and fintech apps. Funding with a card is a different flow.
- Privy vs MetaMask EmbeddedTwo ways to put a wallet behind email and social login. The free tiers are not the same shape, and the brands do different work.
- Dynamic vs thirdwebA login-and-wallet product next to a wallet that comes with the rest of an onchain stack. External wallets are a Dynamic specialty. Guest mode is a thirdweb claim we have not filmed.
How to read a page
Documented means we read their public page. Pending means that number is still unmeasured. A dated frame is a screenshot.
Methodology