In November 2024, a topic regarding fraud during cryptocurrency exchanges within the Exodus wallet was raised on the Bitcointalk forum. According to user Fedyanov, he lost approximately $500 when attempting to exchange 0.15998883 ETH for 3.11607232 XMR on November 11, 2024. The user provided a transaction hash (0xd94006beb2ed6a0ed01183db86a22cdeeacae8dac2cd3a37f47aff2e492e0b44) as proof. He stated that Exodus refused to return the funds and set impossible verification conditions, including video verification, providing a passport, and bank statements, even though the user only asked to cancel the exchange and return the original cryptocurrency. He also accused the wallet of potentially having access to users seed phrases due to its closed-source code.

Experienced forum members clarified the nature of the problem. User dkbit98 specified that Exodus itself is not a custodial service or a fraudulent project; however, it uses third-party exchange services such as ChangeHero, Changelly, and Cripto InterCambio, which are known for randomly freezing client funds. He emphasized that users agree to the terms of use of these third-party services, which are integrated for profit, and attached a link to Exodus's official rules. User act agreed with the assessment of the risks associated with closed-source code, noting that it is impossible to guarantee that developers do not have access to private keys. User Zwei added that the exchange function in Exodus is dangerous precisely because of the use of unscrupulous third-party services.

The problem was not limited to an isolated incident. According to user Xaolongbao, a similar situation happened to him: funds amounting to $42,000 in BTC were held for four months. User aioc confirmed that this was not an isolated incident and recommended refraining from using Exodus. User robelneo summarized that Exodus is risking its reputation by integrating questionable third-party services, as users hold the wallet itself responsible.

During the discussion, users shared advice on safe usage and alternatives. User nutildah recommended that when using Exodus, one should manually select the exchange provider in the settings, limit amounts to $700 (up to $400 for XMR), and use a VPN when located in the US. In turn, user dkbit98 suggested completely abandoning closed-source wallets in favor of open-source solutions such as Cake Wallet, Stack Wallet, Unstoppable Wallet, or hardware wallets like Trezor, and using decentralized exchanges, such as Bisq, for trading.