MetaMask Ethereum Token: Merchants Wager on Timing as Joe Lubin Hints at Imminent Drop – Decrypt

Is MetaMask lastly launching a token? Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO Joe Lubin mentioned this week that the long-awaited token tied to the favored crypto pockets is “on the way in which” and “might come before you’d anticipate”—and Myriad merchants are betting on simply how quickly which may imply.

On the time of this writing, a prediction market on Myriad Markets presently put the percentages of MetaMask launching an official token earlier than November 1 at about 32% Sure. No timeline has been introduced, however merchants do not seem to consider that Consensys is able to roll out the token in a matter of weeks.

(Disclaimer: Consensys is certainly one of 22 buyers in an editorially impartial Decrypt, and Myriad Markets is a product of Decrypt‘s father or mother firm, DASTAN.)

Polymarket customers, in the meantime, give a 46% likelihood that the token will launch by the top of the 12 months.

Lubin made the most recent feedback in an interview with The Block this week, explaining {that a} native token (nicknamed MASK) can be a part of MetaMask’s decentralization roadmap.

MetaMask was created by Consensys in 2016 as a part of its “mesh” of Ethereum-focused initiatives, and it has remained certainly one of its wholly owned merchandise ever since. When Consensys raised its Sequence D funding spherical in 2022 at a $7 billion valuation, MetaMask (and Infura) had been explicitly cited as core income drivers inside the corporate—not portfolio investments.

Consensys has been dangling the prospect of a token since 2021, when Lubin first confirmed it could be a part of a broader plan to decentralize the pockets’s governance. Over the subsequent few years, Lubin repeated {that a} token was coming however burdened it wouldn’t be a fast cash-grab; the staff needed to keep away from a speculative frenzy and deal with “progressive decentralization.”

Within the meantime, MetaMask’s official channels even warned customers about rip-off airdrops, confirming no launch date had been set. Through the years, MetaMask rolled out staking and bridging options, whereas Consensys lately launched the Linea layer-2 Ethereum community and LINEA token—strikes extensively seen as laying the groundwork for a token economic system.

MetaMask additionally simply launched a stablecoin known as mUSD, which supplies some proof that infrastructure and regulatory groundwork are being laid. The stablecoin is reside on Ethereum and Linea, suggesting they’re each getting ready user-facing options and on-ramps for the token period.

What we nonetheless don’t know

Regardless of sturdy hints, a number of important particulars stay unclear:

• Timing: Lubin’s statements are imprecise. “Ahead of anticipated” is subjective and doesn’t give a agency date. We don’t know if “sooner” means weeks, months, or simply “throughout the identical 12 months.”

• Tokenomics and utility: What precisely the token will do is just partially described. Governance? Rewards? Entry to options? There are ideas, however no full white paper or specs have been revealed.

• Distribution/qualification: Who will obtain the token? Will it’s retroactive, through airdrop, or earned by exercise? These particulars aren’t but public.

• Regulatory threat: Any token tied to a serious pockets with many U.S. customers will draw regulatory scrutiny. MetaMask and Consensys must navigate legal guidelines round securities, know-your-customer (KYC), token issuance, and what counts as utility vs. monetary return.

The takeaway

Placing this collectively, right here’s a wise wager: MetaMask is very prone to launch a token, and apparently sooner reasonably than later. The existence of Myriad’s prediction market (“No” being extra probably earlier than November) exhibits there’s cheap skepticism, however government confirmations from Lubin push the chance considerably upward.