Most of us will be aware that on October 20th 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS), suffered an outage that affected a significant portion of the internet.
The incident affected countless websites that depend on Amazon’s cloud infrastructure, knocking out everything from Snapchat and Fortnite to Signal, Base, Coinbase, and Robinhood. For millions of users that day, services they take for granted simply would not respond.
Some say that half of the internet went down, however data reveals it was closer to around 30%. Still a significant amount.
How Was Crypto Affected?
Blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana continued to process transactions and maintain consensus. The core networks were not broken. What failed were the centralized layers built on top of those networks.
Exchange interfaces and many websites often run on cloud providers, in this case the largest cloud computing service globally: Amazon Web Services.
When AWS went offline, users could not log in, check balances, withdraw funds, or interact with many popular websites and exchanges. Some users saw zero balances in their apps even though their tokens remained on the blockchain.
Base, Ethereum and Solana in the Outage Spotlight
Base users were among those suddenly confronted with blank screens and incorrect balance displays. Base is a Layer 2 that relies on centralized infrastructure for user interfaces, and that dependency was exposed.
Ethereum itself stayed up, but many Ethereum based services lost their ability to serve customers. Solana reported limited impact to the network because a smaller share of its critical infrastructure depended on the affected cloud region.
The result was the same for users across ecosystems. If you access your crypto through an exchange like Coinbase, an outage at a cloud provider can lock you out of your money even when the underlying chain is functioning.
Should You Store Crypto on Exchanges?
It seems pretty obvious that in order to avoid this problem, crypto shouldn’t be stored on exchanges for long periods of time.
It’s convenient and an on-ramp for crypto, however in the event of an outage like this you’re not able to access your account. Also, because the exchange holds your private keys, you’re not able to move your money.
In the AWS incident users were unable to withdraw or move funds until services were restored. That situation effectively froze access to their money and removed control from the account holder.
Take Control with Self Custody
Self custody means holding your own private keys in a wallet, because you have the private keys if one website goes down you would be able to use another that is unaffected.
Another debate is that if an exchange runs on cloud infrastructure that powers 30% of the internet, is it really decentralized? The answer is no. 30% is considered highly centralized.
Final Thoughts
The AWS outage was a clear example of how decentralization must be more than a slogan. It must be reflected in how you store and access your assets. If you want true ownership and uninterrupted access, move critical funds out of exchanges and into self custody. Your keys are your access, and access is the practical definition of ownership.
That’s exactly why non-custodial tools like Best Wallet are quite important. Best Wallet’s self-custodial architecture, for example, ensures that users do not lose access to their money, no matter what happens. That attribute sets it apart from centralized exchanges where investors only rely on third-parties and can easily lose access during outages or shutdowns.
In addition to being a self-custodial wallet, Best Wallet also further improves financial freedom and privacy by embracing a no-KYC approach, allowing users to buy and swap cryptos without jumping through the hoops of extensive identity checks. This means users can rest assured that the kind of data leaks sometimes associated with centralized platforms are not a concern here.
Another important benefit of using Best Wallet is its clean, user-friendly interface, which makes it easy for beginners to find their way around and take full advantage of its features. Also, Best Wallet has a multi-wallet functionality, which has caught the attention of many users, allowing them to connect other wallets to it and manage different portfolios from one place.
At its core, Best Wallet is a multichain wallet that aims to support over 60 blockchains, empowering users to freely buy, send, receive, or swap any crypto across all compatible chains. However, since achieving this level of integration is an ambitious task, the Best Wallet team is gradually rolling it out through a series of updates.
In August, for instance, it added support for Solana, expanding a multichain lineup that already includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Base, and Polygon. Therefore, users don’t need to create separate wallets to access the assets across different networks, giving it an edge over competitors.
Other vital attributes of Best Wallet that also stand out include fiat payments, cross-chain swaps, staking perks, and most importantly, a token launchpad, making it a complete hub for all crypto users.
So far, Best Wallet has been positively reviewed by prominent crypto YouTube channels, including 99Bitcoins, further raising its visibility in the DeFi arena.
Download Best Wallet
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