In the battle of Web3 wallets, has Metamask also confirmed the issuance of its token?

Original article from Odaily Planet Daily Asher

Following Base's sudden shift to explore token issuance, MetaMask may also issue a token soon.

In May of this year, MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay stated that the team was "considering" issuing a token, but their stance was ambiguous. However, just today, the tone changed dramatically—Joseph Rubin, founder of MetaMask's parent company Consensys, stated in an interview with The Block's podcast The Crypto Beat: "The MetaMask token is coming soon, possibly even faster than you think."

Perhaps the reason MetaMask has decided to issue a token at this time is due to the increasingly fierce competition in the Web 3 wallet space. Once a dominant player, it is now gradually losing heat to competitors and even becoming marginalized among some users.

In the battle of Web 3 wallets, MetaMask has already fallen from grace

According to Dune data, MetaMask's market share in the Web 3 wallet Swap market is experiencing a steep decline, dropping from nearly 80% of its absolute dominance at the end of 2022 to less than 1% in its current marginalized state. Although MetaMask has not been idle, actively trying to expand its ecosystem through tools like Snap and supporting multi-chain wallet access including Solana, the actual results have not been able to counter the trend.

Market share of weekly trading volume in Web 3 wallets

The reason is that the rise of exchange-based Web 3 wallets is far exceeding expectations.

First, the rapidly rising player in the Web 3 wallet space is OKX Wallet. It attracts users for daily use with excellent functionality and ease of operation, inheriting the liquidity advantages of exchanges, allowing some users to experience a smoother trading process than MetaMask. At this stage, the competitiveness of wallets mainly comes from functional experience rather than incentive mechanisms.

Currently, Binance Wallet's growth is the most prominent. Leveraging the Binance Alpha initiative, Binance Wallet has launched a user growth model centered around token airdrops. Users are attracted by the dual drivers of "trading + airdrop expectations," rapidly increasing activity and penetration. At this point, "completing tasks with an exchange wallet = expectation of airdrops" has become a market consensus, making Binance Wallet the fastest-growing wallet of the new generation. Similarly, OKX Wallet has also been continuously expanding its use cases recently through the OKX Boost initiative, gradually becoming the preferred entry point for users' daily transactions and interactions.

Binance Alpha may have already paved the way for the development of Web 3 wallets: in the current market environment, relying solely on product functionality or user education is no longer sufficient to quickly form scale effects; only by stimulating user behavior through token airdrops can one maximize market share in Web 3 wallets. It is perhaps for this reason that the MetaMask team has decided to issue a token, using token incentives to re-attract old users and lock in new ones, achieving ecosystem expansion.

Linea token holders may benefit from MetaMask airdrops

As an Ethereum Layer 2 project under ConsenSys, Linea's initial price performance has not been ideal, with a current circulating market cap of only $430 million, ranking 213th. In this context, MetaMask's token issuance may consider binding with Linea token holders, directly reaching LINEA network users through airdrops or incentive mechanisms, thereby increasing demand for LINEA tokens and pushing up the token price.

In other words, through the MetaMask airdrop plan, MetaMask enhances wallet activity and trading volume, while Linea increases network usage and token demand through wallet traffic. Through this "wallet + Ethereum Layer 2" combination effect, both projects have the opportunity to develop together and form a stronger network effect.

It's time to start using the little fox wallet again

I believe most Web 3 veterans have used the MetaMask wallet at some point. Although the details of MetaMask's token airdrop have not yet been announced, old wallet users might as well reactivate their MetaMask to stay active and seize potential airdrop opportunities.

Moreover, reusing the old MetaMask wallet does not mean one has to deliberately inflate trading volume. Users only need to maintain wallet activity through daily on-chain operations. After all, there are currently no tasks similar to Odyssey launched, so there is no need to increase wallet wear for the sake of airdrops.