MetaMask

MetaMask (metamask.io) is the world's most installed self-custodial crypto wallet and the default front door to web3 for the vast majority of users. Operated by ConsenSys (the Ethereum infrastructure company founded by Joe Lubin, one of the original Ethereum co-founders), MetaMask launched in 2016 and has grown to 100M+ downloads across Google Play, the App Store, and Chrome Web Store with a 4.7-star rating on the App Store. MetaMask pioneered the EVM-browser-extension wallet model that every other wallet in this directory follows, and it remains the de-facto standard wallet that every web3 DApp connects to via the MetaMask SDK + window.ethereum provider.

As of July 2026, MetaMask has evolved well beyond a bare wallet into a full-stack crypto-finance platform: the homepage tagline is "Where your money lives". New flagship products added in the 2024-2026 era include:

• MetaMask Perps - long or short crypto perpetuals directly in the wallet, up to 50x leverage, powered by Hyperliquid
• MetaMask Swaps - aggregated swaps across thousands of tokens on every popular network
• Prediction Markets - trade on the future of crypto, politics, sports, and events
• MetaMask RWA - buy tokenized stocks, funds, and commodities directly inside the wallet
• MetaMask Money Account - earn up to 4% APY on stablecoin balances (variable, not guaranteed) - a yield product integrated with the wallet
• Send / Receive - send money globally and instantly to anyone via the wallet
• MetaMask Card - a Visa card tied to your wallet that lets you spend crypto anywhere Visa is accepted, and earn up to 3% cashback on purchases
• Connect - one MetaMask account connects to everything in web3 - thousands of DApps, hundreds of chains

MetaMask is fully self-custodial across all products - the user holds the private keys (12-word seed phrase or passkey-based account on newer mobile flows). ConsenSys's MetaMask Security page reports the wallet has secured billions in user assets for over 10 years, with regular third-party audits from security firms including Coinspect (which rated MetaMask #1 most secure wallet), Trail of Bits, Doyen, and Hacken.

MetaMask Transaction Shield - newer security feature offering transaction protection up to $10k per transaction - is included across all MetaMask transaction flows. Combined with 24/7 customer support in 134 languages, MetaMask is now in a product class of its own among self-custodial wallets — combining the deepest DApp compatibility with bank-grade feature depth and the largest user base.

MetaMask Browser Extension (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Arc, Brave)

The original MetaMask product launched in 2016 — a browser extension that injects the window.ethereum provider into every web page, enabling DApp connection, transaction signing, and EVM chain interaction directly in the browser. The extension is the most-installed crypto wallet extension globally and the de-facto standard for every web3 DApp that has a "Connect Wallet" button. The extension supports 50+ EVM chains natively, hardware wallet integration (Ledger, Trezor, Lattice, Keystone Q), and all of MetaMask's flagship products (Swaps, Perps, Money Account, Card, RWA, Prediction Markets). 100M+ downloads.

MetaMask Mobile App (iOS + Android)

The mobile app offers the same feature set as the extension plus additional features optimized for mobile:

• Passkey-based accounts - new users can create a wallet using Face ID / Touch ID / passkey authentication instead of having to write down a 12-word seed phrase (a major accessibility improvement from the old seed-phrase-only onboarding)
• Apple Pay / Google Pay / card on-ramp - buy crypto directly inside the wallet with fiat
• In-app DApp browser - connect to web3 DApps inside the app's browser view
• 4.7-star rating on iOS App Store

MetaMask Perps - trade long/short with up to 50x leverage

New (MetaMask 2025-2026 product): trade crypto perpetuals directly inside the wallet, with up to 50x leverage. Powered by Hyperliquid - the high-performance perp DEX. No need to leave MetaMask or connect to a separate DEX - execute long or short positions on BTC, ETH (and more) directly in the wallet UI with a Hyperliquid engine behind the scenes.

MetaMask Swaps - aggregated cross-DEX swaps

Mew VS Swap aggregator: swap thousands of tokens across every popular network. MetaMask Swaps prices trades across the leading DEXs and aggregators (Uniswap, SushiSwap, Balancer, Curve, 0x, 1inch, Paraswap, Matcha) to find the best execution price. Cross-chain bridge support included. The MetaMask Swaps fee (charged on top of the underlying DEX / gas fee) varies by route.

MetaMask Money Account - earn up to 4% APY

New flagship product: a stablecoin yield account that converts idle stablecoin balances in the MetaMask wallet into yield-bearing positions via partner protocols. Earn up to 4% APY (variable, not guaranteed - exposed to underlying DeFi / RWA credit risks). It's a meaningful crypto-native competitor to bank savings accounts. APYs are variable and depend on the underlying yield source.

MetaMask Card - spend crypto anywhere Visa is accepted

A Visa debit card tied to the MetaMask wallet. Spend stablecoin / crypto balances directly on any Visa-accepting merchant (online, in-store). Earn up to 3% cashback on purchases (cashback rate varies by tier - higher tiers earn higher cashback). The card is currently available in select jurisdictions (EEA, UK, parts of Asia, with US expected to roll out gradually). Integrated with the wallet - the card spends directly from MetaMask balances.

Prediction Markets - trade on real-world events

Trade on the future: crypto prices, political elections, sports outcomes, weather events, and more. Native prediction market integration in MetaMask that taps into decentralized prediction market protocols (Polymarket-style) directly inside the wallet UX.

MetaMask RWA - buy tokenized stocks, funds, commodities

Buy tokenized real-world assets - tokenized stocks (tokenized equities), funds (tokenized fund shares), and commodities (tokenized gold, silver, etc.) - directly inside the wallet. This is a major expansion of the wallet's role beyond pure crypto into the broader tokenized-asset ecosystem, similar to the tokenized-stocks support added by MyEtherWallet.

Hardware wallet support

The MetaMask Browser Extension and the MetaMask Mobile app support hardware wallets: Ledger (Nano S, Nano S Plus, Nano X), Trezor (One, Model T, Safe 3, Safe 5), Keystone (3, Pro), GridPlus Lattice1, and QR-based hardware signers. Users connect their hardware wallet via USB or Bluetooth and sign transactions on-device. Hardware wallet signing is the strongest standard-form of crypto security for users who do not want to rely on the seed phrase being stored in the browser extension / mobile app.

MetaMask Transaction Shield - up to $10k transaction protection

A newer security product that protects users against malicious transactions by routing the transaction through the MetaMask Transaction Shield system. If a Shielded transaction ends up being malicious (e.g. a drainer), MetaMask may reimburse the user up to $10,000 per transaction. This is a meaningful safety-net protection against the most common phishing / drainer attacks that have historically drained retail crypto wallets.

Self-custodial - you hold your own 12-word seed phrase

MetaMask is self-custodial across all three of its flagship products (Extension, Mobile, and the new Money Account / Card / RWA flows where applicable). The user generates and stores their own private keys locally - via a 12-word BIP-39 seed phrase (on older onboarding flows), via passkeys (Face ID / Touch ID / device passkeys on newer mobile flows - a major UX improvement from the seed-phrase-only era), or in a connected hardware wallet. ConsenSys / MetaMask NEVER holds user private keys, NEVER has access to user wallets, and NEVER has the technical ability to recover a lost wallet (if the user loses both their seed phrase AND their passkey recovery path, the wallet is permanently lost).

10+ years operating - "$1B+ secured" claim

MetaMask has been operational since 2016 (the Browser Extension, then the Mobile App in 2020). Over 10+ years MetaMask has secured billions of dollars in user assets and has processed billions of transactions without core wallet code exploits. This is a meaningful track record - few other crypto wallets have been continuously operating at scale for that long with that safety record. From the MetaMask security page: "we have been securing billions of assets for over 10 years."

Rated #1 most secure wallet by Coinspect

An independent security audit firm Coinspect rated MetaMask the #1 most secure crypto wallet in its published ranking (visible on MetaMask's security page). MetaMask receives regular independent audits from Coinspect, Trail of Bits, Doyen, Hacken, and other reputable security firms. Audit reports are published on ConsenSys Diligence's security portal.

Hardware wallet support

Mew supports Ledger (Nano S, Nano S Plus, Nano X), Trezor (One, Model T, Safe 3, Safe 5), Keystone (3, Pro), GridPlus Lattice1, and QR-based hardware wallets via the MetaMask Extension. The mobile app supports Ledger via Bluetooth. Hardware wallet integration provides the strongest practical form of crypto asset security - private keys never leave the hardware wallet's secure element even when MetaMask is used as the wallet UX.

MetaMask Transaction Shield - up to $10k protection

Transaction Shield is a newer protection product that routes MetaMask-signed transactions through MetaMask's transaction-safety system. If a Shielded transaction is later identified as malicious (e.g., a drainer / phishing / unauthorized transfer), MetaMask may reimburse the user up to $10,000 per transaction. This is the first major wallet-level insurance against phishing / drainer attacks - the most common way retail crypto users lose funds.

Customer support - 24/7 in 134 languages

MetaMask offers 24/7 customer support in 134 languages - the most extensive customer support operation of any self-custodial crypto wallet. Support is available through support.metamask.io and the in-app help center.

Open-source (Mew's "Mew Snap" - level of openness varies)

MetaMask's core extension is open-source with most of the codebase publicly available on GitHub (github.com/MetaMask), including the MetaMask Extension, the MetaMask Mobile app, the MetaMask SDK, and Snaps (the plugin framework). Some of the newer commercial products (Money Account backend, Perps integration, Card backend) are partly closed as they involve third-party partnerships and proprietary backend services. Open-source is important for a crypto wallet because it allows independent security researchers to audit the key-handling code.

Wallet - free to download

Mew is free to download on Chrome Web Store, App Store, Google Play, Firefox Add-Ons, Edge Add-Ons, and the MetaMask website. No subscription, no premium tier - MetaMask is universally available free.

MetaMask Swaps fee - 0.875% on top of underlying DEX + gas fees

MetaMask Swaps (the integrated DEX aggregator) charges a 0.875% service fee on every swap, on top of the underlying DEX fee (~0.05-0.30% routed via Uniswap / Sushi / Curve / Balancer) and on top of the network gas (paid to Ethereum / L2 validators). For users who swap frequently or in large size, the 0.875% can add up - 0.875% on a $10,000 swap = $87.50. For occasional retail swappers, the convenience of an integrated aggregator over manually seeking the best DEX is typically worth the 0.875%. The total swap cost breakdown (MetaMask fee + DEX fee + gas) is transparently displayed in the swap confirmation UI before the user signs.

MetaMask Perps - exchange fees (not wallet fees)

MetaMask Perps execute via the Hyperliquid engine - exchange-style fees (typically 0.035% maker / 0.070% taker base rate, subject to Hyperliquid's tiered fee schedule). MetaMask takes a referral portion of the Hyperliquid exchange fees on top of the base exchange fee. Funding rates apply (perp-specific). The total perps cost is shown in the perps trade confirmation UI before the user opens a position.

MetaMask Money Account - yield-account fees

Mew Money Account is a stablecoin yield product. The 4% APY (variable, not guaranteed) is what the user earns - the underlying protocol partner takes a fee baked into the yield spread (e.g., if the underlying yield source earns 4.5%, MetaMask / partners might keep ~0.5% and pass 4% to the user). The exact fee / revenue share is not publicly disclosed.

MetaMask Card - card fees

Mew Card charges applicable card-program fees: monthly maintenance fee (varies by jurisdiction - some regions are free), ATM withdrawal fee (varies), foreign-exchange fee on non-USD spend (typically 0% with card-program subsidies), and earns up to 3% cashback on purchases (cashback rate varies by tier - higher-tier users get higher cashback). Card spending draws directly from the user's MetaMask wallet stablecoin balance.

Network gas - paid to chain, not MetaMask

Each transaction signed in MetaMask requires network gas paid to the underlying chain validators. Ethereum L1: $2-30+ depending on congestion. Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, zkSync, Linea, Scroll, Blast, Mantle: sub-cent to low-cents. BSC: sub-cent. Avalanche C-Chain: low-cents. Mew does not charge gas on behalf of users - the user's wallet pays the gas fee from their account. The gas fee is shown transparently in the MetaMask transaction confirmation dialog before the user signs.

Mew supports 50+ EVM chains natively as of July 2026 - the broadest chain selection in any EVM-focused wallet. The headline chains include:

• Ethereum mainnet (L1)
• Polygon PoS
• Arbitrum One
• Optimism
• Base
• zkSync Era
• Linea (ConsenSys's own L2)
• Scroll
• Blast
• Mantle
• Mode
• Manta Pacific
• BSC (BNB Chain)
• Avalanche C-Chain
• Celo
• Gnosis Chain
• Fantom
• Cronos
• Holesky / Sepolia / Goerli testnets

(Full list: 50+ EVM chains, with new L2s being added every few months). For each chain, MetaMask provides native gas-currency display (e.g., ETH on mainnet, MATIC / POL on Polygon, BNB on BSC, AVAX on Avalanche), RPC endpoint management (custom RPC can be added via the chain management UI), and EVM-compatible transaction signing.

Mew does not natively support non-EVM chains: Solana, Bitcoin, Cosmos, Polkadot Substrate, Aptos, Sui, Move-VM, near-protocol. Users holding non-EVM assets need separate wallets (Phantom / Solflare for Solana, Keplr for Cosmos, Polkadot.js for Substrate, Petra for Aptos, Sui for Sui, etc.). For Bitcoin, MetaMask users must use a separate Bitcoin wallet or hold Wrapped BTC / wBTC on a MetaMask-supported chain.