For years, MetaMask was the default gateway to Ethereum, the browser extension that turned “connect wallet” into muscle memory for millions of users.
Now Consensys is betting that the same reflex can also work on blockchains. In late May, MetaMask flipped the switch to native Solana support, allowing its 30 million monthly active users to manage SOL and SPL tokens without installing Phantom or another Solana-first wallet.
Bitcoin support is somewhere on the 2025 roadmap, initially scheduled for Q3 but not yet shipped.
If it lands, MetaMask will become the first primary wallet to natively support Ethereum, Solana, and Bitcoin. These three ecosystems have historically required separate apps, basic sentences, and mental models.
The timing is not subtle. Artemis data from June showed that Solana’s monthly active addresses matched those of every other layer 1 and layer 2 network combined.
Solana stopped being the ‘Ethereum alternative’ and started to resemble the place where real users appeared.
For MetaMask, this created an uncomfortable dynamic: the wallet with the largest distribution missed the chain with the most activity.
Phantom, the Solana-born incumbent with 15 million monthly active users (MAUs) and $25 billion in user assets, had already taken the opposite step, adding support for Ethereum and Bitcoin in 2024.
The multichain wallet was not a future concept; it was already there and MetaMask was late.
The UX statement: one account, three rails
What MetaMask proposes goes beyond feature parity. The product now provides a unified portfolio view for Ethereum and Solana, with swaps and bridges built right into the interface.
Users can import existing Solana wallets using the same recovery secret phrase that controls their Ethereum keys, merging what used to be a multi-app juggling act into one session.
When Bitcoin support arrives, the loop will be closed: one recovery phrase, one interface, three completely different consensus mechanisms and cryptographic schemes.
The convenience is clear. The risk is less discussed, but more difficult to ignore. A single seed phrase now controls secp256k1 keys for EVM chains and ed25519 keys for Solana, with Bitcoin’s key derivation next in line.
One compromised backup exposes every chain at once. Consensys has published security guidelines around the multichain model, but the trade-off remains: blast radius versus ease of use.
An extension bug earlier this year that caused MetaMask to write excessive data to SSDs on some Chromium setups didn’t help the reliability story.
Consensys provided a solution, but the episode underscored how extension-level bugs can erode trust faster than feature announcements.
This is where account abstraction comes into play. Consensys is combining the multichain rollout with its Delegation Toolkit and the upcoming EIP-7702 standard in Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade.
These tools enable gas sponsorship, transaction batching, and session-like permissions, which form the software layer that allows wallets to completely hide seed phrases and execute multi-step flows without repeated approvals.
The result is what the industry calls “invisible wallets,” where users interact with apps without ever thinking about keys, gas or chain IDs.
It’s a compelling vision, but EIP-7702 also opens new avenues for phishing. Malicious dapps can request broad permissions that allow them to act on behalf of users, and distinguishing legitimate requests from scams becomes the wallet’s job.
MetaMask’s security warnings and how aggressively warnings around delegate permissions emerge will be just as important as the UX improvements themselves.
Shelf space as distribution
Wallet interfaces have become the new home page.
If MetaMask brings Solana dApps, stablecoin bridges, and memecoin swaps to the default view, millions of EVM native users will try Solana not because they’ve explored the ecosystem, but because the path of least friction led them there.
The same logic applies to Bitcoin. Daily active addresses on Bitcoin routinely range from 700,000 to 1 million, and ordinal numbers plus inscriptions have turned BTC into little more than a savings asset.
A native Bitcoin tab within MetaMask would let Ethereum and Solana users experiment with Bitcoin-based collectibles or Lightning payments without context switching, and it would give Bitcoin-first users a reason to try stablecoin swaps or DeFi protocols on faster chains.
The strategic question is whether distribution alone can change the gravity of ecosystems. MetaMask’s 30 million MAUs dwarf Phantom’s 15 million, but Phantom holds a mindshare among Solana users and has spent years building tools around NFTs, token launches, and social discovery.
If MetaMask converts even 10% to 18% of its user base into active cross-chain participants within the first few weeks, it could mean several million people suddenly browsing Solana dapps from an Ethereum wallet.
It is not a winner-takes-all outcome, but it reframes the competitive landscape. Phantom will likely double down on powerful features and community-driven discoveries, leaning into what made it the standard for Solana residents in the first place.
MetaMask is betting that “good enough” cross-chain UX plus account abstraction rails will be more valuable than specialized depth.
The regulatory shadow and the endgame of the super app
The SEC sued Consensys in June 2024, alleging that MetaMask Swaps and staking features generated more than $250 million in fees without proper broker registration.
Consensys is contesting jurisdiction, and the case hasn’t killed momentum, but it does add a layer of uncertainty to any product expansion.
Every new chain, exchange route and income stream invites new research.
Meanwhile, OKX Wallet functions as a full-fledged super app, supporting more than 100 chains and smart account features, demonstrating what’s possible when regulatory restrictions are lighter.
Coinbase Smart Wallet took a completely different path, using passwordless flows and built-in wallets to get past the 1 million accounts created over the summer, all on Base, all EVM, with no Solana or Bitcoin in sight.
Coinbase is targeting users who don’t know they’re using a wallet, which may be the real endgame for mainstream adoption.
MetaMask sits in the middle: too visible to avoid regulations, too decentralized to move to a full surveillance model, and too big to ignore the chains where users actually spend time.
The multichain push is as much about survival as it is about ambition. If wallet market share becomes a measure of ecosystem influence, then the wallet that covers the most chains with the least friction will determine where the next cohort of users ends up.
Phantom was the first with Solana and Bitcoin, while MetaMask tries to be the first with ‘everything at once’.
The wallet wars have shifted from key management to default settings. Whoever owns the first tap, consisting of the initial connection, the first swap, and the chain that loads when a new user opens the app, will direct where millions of people think crypto is happening.
If MetaMask’s Bitcoin integration ships before the end of the year, 2026 will start with a single interface that treats Ethereum, Solana, and Bitcoin as tabs in the same browser rather than as separate universes. At that moment, the question is not which chain wins; it’s which wallet decides.
