Crypto has a tracking problem that traditional accounts do not. A brokerage or bank connects through a read-only data provider and that is the end of the risk conversation. Crypto asks a sharper question up front: how much access are you handing over just to see a balance? The answer depends on which of three models a tracker uses.
Keyless, custodial, and self-custodial — the difference
Keyless (watch-only). You give the tracker a public address. Public addresses are exactly that — public; anyone can look up their balance on-chain. A keyless tracker reads what is already visible and does nothing else. It cannot sign a transaction, because signing requires the private key, and you never shared one. This is the read-only equivalent for crypto.
Custodial (exchange login or API key). You connect an exchange account — Coinbase, Kraken, and the like — with a login or an API key. The exchange holds your coins, and the tracker sees your account through that relationship. Convenient, but you are trusting both the exchange and the API key's scope. A key with the wrong permissions, or a breach, is a real surface. The old advice applies: if you connect an exchange, use a read-only key and never one with withdrawal rights.
Self-custodial with keys. The dangerous one. If any tool ever asks for your seed phrase or private key to "track" your portfolio, stop. Tracking never requires it. A seed phrase is full control of your funds; handing it to software — however trustworthy it looks — is the single most common way self-custody funds are lost. Reading a balance needs a public address and nothing more.
The rule of thumb: viewing a balance is a read operation, and reads only need your public address. Any request for a seed phrase or private key is a request for control you should never grant to a tracker.
Why keyless matters for net-worth tracking specifically
If you are tracking crypto in isolation, you might tolerate an exchange connection because that is where the coins already sit. But net-worth tracking is different. The whole point is to pull crypto into the same private view as your brokerage, your 401(k), your cash, and your home equity. That view is one of the most sensitive maps of your financial life that exists — so the crypto side should add the least possible risk, not the most.
Keyless tracking does that. It lets on-chain holdings appear in your total without introducing a new place where funds can be moved. You get the number; you keep custody. Nothing about adding crypto to your net worth requires giving up control of it.
It also tends to be more complete. A single public address on a chain like Ethereum can hold dozens of tokens and DeFi positions that an exchange-only view would miss entirely. Reading the address directly captures the long tail — the small tokens, the layer-2 balances, the staked positions — that make up real on-chain net worth.
How Ascend handles it
Ascend is keyless by design. You paste a public wallet address and it reads your balances across 11 networks — Bitcoin, Ethereum and its major layer-2s, Solana, and more — including long-tail tokens and DeFi positions where supported. There is no seed phrase field anywhere in the product, because there is never a reason for one. Your crypto sits in the same private net-worth number as everything else, and Ascend can never touch it.
For a broader look at how the crypto-capable trackers compare on chain coverage and custody model, see our guide to the best crypto net worth trackers. For crypto alongside traditional accounts, the full net worth tracker comparison shows where each tool lands. If you want to see the whole picture — crypto plus traditional accounts — start with a free net worth tracker.
Bottom line: keyless means watch-only. It is the safest way to include crypto in a net-worth view — full visibility, zero custody handed over. If a tracker asks for more than a public address, it is asking for more than tracking requires.