Consensys Announces Public Launch of MetaMask Snaps: Empowering Users with Unprecedented Platform Customization

IMAGE : Consensys Webpage

September 14, 2023 -- Today, Consensys, a leading blockchain and web3 software company, announces the launch of the first iteration of MetaMask Snaps to the public. MetaMask Snaps is set to revolutionize the way users interact with MetaMask, the world’s leading self-custody web3 platform, offering them unprecedented control and customization. Snaps are new features and functionality, created by third-party developers, that MetaMask users worldwide can install directly into their wallet. Previously, MetaMask features were exclusively developed by MetaMask developers employed by Consensys. The initial rollout will include 34 Snaps that provide utility around transaction insights, interoperability with non-EVM blockchains like Bitcoin, and notifications.

The public launch of MetaMask Snaps marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of MetaMask as a wallet. By providing users with a new set of tools developed by third-party developers across the globe, MetaMask Snaps will empower individuals to shape their web3 experience according to their unique needs and preferences. Adept MetaMask users can access information about how to install the first available Snaps from the official website. The initial iterations will focus on getting experienced MetaMask users to try out MetaMask Snaps and collecting their feedback, while the MetaMask team continues its development journey towards realizing its ultimate vision.

Initial Snaps rollout: transaction insights, interoperability, and notifications

As the initial phase of realizing this vision, MetaMask Snaps will launch with a set of 34 Snaps. These Snaps went through security audits and were manually included in the allowlist by the MetaMask team. MetaMask will persist in auditing and incorporating Snaps into the allowlist until the transition to a permissionless system is achieved, eliminating the need for this intermediate step.

These first Snaps unlock unique use cases that include:

· Transaction insights: Enhancing users’ web3 journey with clearer transaction insights, empowering them to identify potential security concerns and malicious smart contracts before finalizing a transaction.

· Interoperability: MetaMask Snaps broadens web3 usage to encompass non-EVM blockchains such as Bitcoin, Solana, Cosmos, and EVM Layer 2 solutions like StarkNet.

· Notifications: Keeping users informed and engaged with web3-specific notifications directly in MetaMask, ensuring you never miss an essential update or event.

A full list of Snaps is available on the MetaMask Snaps Directory.

MetaMask’s Vision of Permissionless Innovation

In 2022, MetaMask surpassed 100 million users. The web3 ecosystem has witnessed rapid growth, leading to new diverse use cases. Innovations that provide a personalized user experience continue to be crucial to eliminating barriers to entry and facilitating the growth of the web3 ecosystem, with the ultimate goal of onboarding 1 billion users. While its origins are rooted in Ethereum, MetaMask holds the conviction that innovation occurs in many domains across the web3 ecosystem. With Snaps, the leading web3 wallet hopes to capture a fuller extent of the innovation happening in web3 by enabling third-party developers to bring their specialist expertise to building for the platform. MetaMask envisions an open, permissionless system of innovation where any web3 developer can build a Snap and make it available to users. A platform for the community, built by the community.

“The most important part of the Snaps story to me is that we now have a system at the heart of our wallet that allows us to step back and humbly invite the community to provide their own solutions to the hardest problems. I have some big ideas and opinions about what the future of transaction safety could look like, but that’s no reason for it to be the only idea being validated. We’re helping usher in a new paradigm of distributed computing, and there are a lot of questions that need creative solutions, and so I still believe that lowering the barrier and cost to trying new things can be an important accelerant to finding good answers to those hard problems. This isn’t about accelerating technology for its own sake, it’s about accelerating the process of finding improvements in the ways we do things,” said Dan Finlay, Co-founder of MetaMask and Chief Ethos Officer at Consensys.

Third-party developers building Snaps can independently ship and maintain their creations, separate from MetaMask. They maintain ownership of their code and establish a direct connection with their Snap’s users. In the long-term, MetaMask users will benefit from the convenience and versatility of countless Snaps, tailored for various use cases, across multiple protocols. They will see features that haven’t been imagined yet, developed at a pace that MetaMask couldn’t have achieved on its own.

“We are building MetaMask Snaps as an open platform for innovation and we do not charge developers for publishing Snaps to this platform. We believe that permissionless innovation is a cornerstone of a decentralized system—no gatekeepers. Innovation thrives at the pace of the network, not just within an individual development team at Consensys,” emphasized Christian Montoya, Product Lead for MetaMask Snaps.

Anticipating the future and what lies ahead, MetaMask has engaged in discussions with over 150 developers in the past few months to broaden the array of Snaps. These developers come from various regions around the world, including Africa, Asia, Europe, LATAM and the US.

Consensys is the leading blockchain and web3 software company. Since 2014, Consensys has been at the forefront of innovation, pioneering technological developments within the web3 ecosystem. Through our product suite, including the MetaMask platform, Infura, Linea, Diligence, and our NFT platform, we have become the trusted collaborator for users, creators, and developers on their path to build and belong in the world they want to see. Whether building a dapp, an NFT collection, a portfolio, or a better future, the instinct to build is universal. Consensys inspires and champions the builder instinct in everyone by making web3 universally easy to use and develop on.