What MetaMask is
MetaMask is a non-custodial wallet: private keys stay on the user's device, and the user alone is responsible for the recovery phrase. Born in 2016 as a browser extension and available since 2020 as an iOS and Android app, it is developed by Consensys, the company founded by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin. It is used to hold tokens, sign transactions, connect to decentralised applications (DeFi, NFTs, games) and swap assets through the built-in aggregators.
Over the past two years the product has grown well beyond a simple wallet. In the summer of 2025 Consensys introduced MetaMask USD (mUSD), the first stablecoin issued by a self-custodial wallet, live on Ethereum and on the Linea layer-2 network. On 30 June 2026 came the Money Account: a self-custody account built on Monad that earns yield on stablecoins (up to 4% through the Morpho and Aave protocols), lets users spend with the MetaMask Card at Mastercard merchants and trade tokens, perpetuals and prediction markets from the app. Consensys' CEO has confirmed that a MASK token is coming, tied to the wallet's decentralisation, without giving a date or distribution details.
Regulation and licences
Users who hold their own assets without offering services to others have no obligations under the EU's MiCA regulation: a self-custody wallet is not a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) and needs no authorisation. The obligations fall on the exchanges and custodians the wallet connects to.
In the United States the SEC sued Consensys in June 2024, arguing that the staking and swap services built into MetaMask amounted to an unregistered securities offering. In February 2025 the Commission announced it was dropping the case, closed with no fines or conditions.
Security
The main risk is not technical but human: phishing. In January 2026 the security firm SlowMist flagged a campaign of fake emails asking users to "activate 2FA" by a deadline, designed to capture the recovery phrase; in April 2025 users had reported more than 10 million dollars stolen by sites posing as DeFi tools. MetaMask never asks for the recovery phrase, has no 2FA to activate by email and publishes regular security reports. Practical rules: always check the site address, read what you sign, revoke approvals granted to contracts you no longer use, and keep significant sums on a hardware wallet connected to MetaMask.
Costs
The wallet is free. Fees apply to operations: the gas of the network used and, for swaps made through the built-in aggregator, a service fee of 0.875% of the amount. The Money Account and the card have their own terms, shown in the app.
Alternatives
For cold storage see Ledger, which connects to MetaMask as an external signer. For decentralised trading the reference is Uniswap, reachable directly from the wallet.
FAQ
Does MetaMask hold my funds? No. The keys are on the user's device; whoever loses the recovery phrase loses access to the funds, and no support team can restore it.
Is MetaMask legal in Europe? Yes. A self-custody wallet is not among the services authorised under MiCA; the regulated parties are the intermediaries (exchanges, custodians) the wallet interacts with.
What is mUSD? It is the dollar stablecoin launched by MetaMask in 2025, available on Ethereum and Linea and used as the basis of the Money Account.
Does the MASK token already exist? No. Consensys has confirmed it is coming, but as of September 2026 there is no date, official ticker or distribution criteria. Any "MASK airdrop" offered by email or social media is a scam.
(Verified: September 2026)
Verified sources
- https://metamask.io/news/metamask-announces-stablecoin-metamask-usd
- https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2026/06/30/metamask-launches-money-account-with-stablecoin-y
- https://consensys.io/blog/sec-to-drop-all-claims-against-consensys
- https://metamask.io/news/metamask-security-report
- https://tangem.com/en/learning-hub/post/mica-regulation-self-custody/
