Why you should put all your crypto eggs in one basket

For years, MetaMask was the default gateway to Ethereum, the browser extension that turned “join pockets” into muscle reminiscence for thousands and thousands of customers.

Now Consensys is betting that the identical reflex may work on blockchains. In late Might, MetaMask flipped the change to native Solana assist, permitting its 30 million month-to-month energetic customers to handle SOL and SPL tokens with out putting in Phantom or one other Solana-first pockets.

Bitcoin assist is someplace on the 2025 roadmap, initially scheduled for Q3 however not but shipped.

If it lands, MetaMask will change into the primary main pockets to natively assist Ethereum, Solana, and Bitcoin. These three ecosystems have traditionally required separate apps, primary sentences, and psychological fashions.

The timing is just not delicate. Artemis knowledge from June confirmed that Solana’s month-to-month energetic addresses matched these of each different layer 1 and layer 2 community mixed.

Solana stopped being the ‘Ethereum various’ and began to resemble the place the place actual customers appeared.

For MetaMask, this created an uncomfortable dynamic: the pockets with the most important distribution missed the chain with probably the most exercise.

Phantom, the Solana-born incumbent with 15 million month-to-month energetic customers (MAUs) and $25 billion in consumer belongings, had already taken the other step, including assist for Ethereum and Bitcoin in 2024.

The multichain pockets was not a future idea; it was already there and MetaMask was late.

The UX assertion: one account, three rails

What MetaMask proposes goes past function parity. The product now offers a unified portfolio view for Ethereum and Solana, with swaps and bridges constructed proper into the interface.

Customers can import current Solana wallets utilizing the identical restoration secret phrase that controls their Ethereum keys, merging what was a multi-app juggling act into one session.

When Bitcoin assist arrives, the loop might be closed: one restoration phrase, one interface, three utterly completely different consensus mechanisms and cryptographic schemes.

The comfort is obvious. The chance is much less mentioned, however tougher to disregard. A single seed phrase now controls secp256k1 keys for EVM chains and ed25519 keys for Solana, with Bitcoin’s key derivation subsequent in line.

One compromised backup exposes each chain directly. Consensys has revealed safety pointers across the multichain mannequin, however the trade-off stays: blast radius versus ease of use.

An extension bug earlier this 12 months that induced MetaMask to write down extreme knowledge to SSDs on some Chromium setups did not assist the reliability story.

Consensys offered an answer, however the episode underscored how extension-level bugs can erode belief sooner than function bulletins.

That is the place account abstraction comes into play. Consensys is combining the multichain rollout with its Delegation Toolkit and the upcoming EIP-7702 customary in Ethereum’s Pectra improve.

These instruments allow gasoline sponsorship, transaction batching, and session-like permissions, which type the software program layer that enables wallets to utterly disguise seed phrases and execute multi-step flows with out repeated approvals.

The result’s what the business calls “invisible wallets,” the place customers work together with apps with out ever fascinated with keys, gasoline or chain IDs.

It is a compelling imaginative and prescient, however EIP-7702 additionally opens new avenues for phishing. Malicious dapps can request broad permissions that enable them to behave on behalf of customers, and distinguishing reputable requests from scams turns into the pockets’s job.

MetaMask’s safety warnings and the way aggressively warnings round delegate permissions emerge might be simply as essential because the UX enhancements themselves.

Shelf area as distribution

Pockets interfaces have change into the brand new dwelling web page.

If MetaMask brings Solana dApps, stablecoin bridges, and memecoin swaps to the default view, thousands and thousands of EVM native customers will strive Solana not as a result of they’ve explored the ecosystem, however as a result of the trail of least friction led them there.

The identical logic applies to Bitcoin. Every day energetic addresses on Bitcoin routinely vary from 700,000 to 1 million, and ordinal numbers plus inscriptions have turned BTC into little greater than a financial savings asset.

A local Bitcoin tab inside MetaMask would let Ethereum and Solana customers experiment with Bitcoin-based collectibles or Lightning funds with out context switching, and it will give Bitcoin-first customers a cause to strive stablecoin swaps or DeFi protocols on sooner chains.

The strategic query is whether or not distribution alone can change the gravity of ecosystems. MetaMask’s 30 million MAUs dwarf Phantom’s 15 million, however Phantom holds a mindshare amongst Solana customers and has spent years constructing instruments round NFTs, token launches, and social discovery.

If MetaMask converts even 10% to 18% of its consumer base into energetic cross-chain individuals throughout the first few weeks, it may imply a number of million folks all of a sudden shopping Solana dapps from an Ethereum pockets.

It isn’t a winner-takes-all end result, but it surely reframes the aggressive panorama. Phantom will seemingly double down on highly effective options and community-driven discoveries, leaning into what made it the usual for Solana residents within the first place.

MetaMask is betting that “adequate” cross-chain UX plus account abstraction rails might be extra worthwhile than specialised depth.

The regulatory shadow and the endgame of the tremendous app

The SEC sued Consensys in June 2024, alleging that MetaMask Swaps and staking options generated greater than $250 million in charges with out correct dealer registration.

Consensys is contesting jurisdiction, and the case hasn’t killed momentum, but it surely does add a layer of uncertainty to any product enlargement.

Each new chain, trade route and earnings stream invitations new analysis.

In the meantime, OKX Pockets capabilities as a full-fledged tremendous app, supporting greater than 100 chains and sensible account options, demonstrating what’s doable when regulatory restrictions are lighter.

Coinbase Good Pockets took a totally completely different path, utilizing passwordless flows and built-in wallets to get previous the 1 million accounts created over the summer season, all on Base, all EVM, with no Solana or Bitcoin in sight.

Coinbase is concentrating on customers who do not know they’re utilizing a pockets, which can be the true endgame for mainstream adoption.

MetaMask sits within the center: too seen to keep away from regulation, too decentralized to transition right into a full surveillance mannequin, and too large to disregard the chains the place customers truly spend time.

The multichain push is as a lot about survival as it’s about ambition. If pockets market share turns into a measure of ecosystem affect, then the pockets that covers probably the most chains with the least friction will decide the place the following cohort of customers finally ends up.

Phantom was the primary with Solana and Bitcoin, whereas MetaMask tries to be the primary with ‘all the pieces directly’.

The pockets wars have shifted from key administration to default settings. Whoever owns the primary faucet, consisting of the preliminary connection, the primary swap, and the chain that hundreds when a brand new consumer opens the app, will direct the place thousands and thousands of individuals assume crypto is occurring.

If MetaMask’s Bitcoin integration ships earlier than the tip of the 12 months, 2026 will begin with a single interface that treats Ethereum, Solana, and Bitcoin as tabs in the identical browser relatively than as separate universes. At that second, the query is just not which chain wins; it is which pockets decides.