MetaMask Expands to Solana and Bitcoin
MetaMask, a popular Ethereum-centric crypto wallet, is expanding its support to include Solana and Bitcoin. The company announced on Thursday that it will enable users to buy, sell, and swap tokens, as well as interact with decentralized applications (dApps) across the Solana ecosystem starting in May. Additionally, MetaMask will support Bitcoin between July and September, allowing users to hold the world's oldest cryptocurrency in their wallets.
MetaMask, created by Ethereum software giant ConsenSys, has been a leading software wallet for trading and holding cryptocurrencies due to its support for Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains. However, the growing demand for meme coins on Solana, Ordinals collectibles, and Runes meme coins on Bitcoin has led to an expansion of the crypto ecosystem beyond Ethereum. As a result, MetaMask is adapting to this changing landscape by adding support for these popular networks.
Solana has seen a significant increase in daily active users, nearly doubling the number of users in the Ethereum ecosystem last month, according to data from blockchain research firm Chain Catcher. This growth, along with the rising popularity of wallets serving the networks' users, has driven the need for multi-chain wallets. Phantom, a multi-chain wallet, recorded 15 million monthly active users as of last month, a 1,400% increase from its user numbers two years earlier. Coinbase Wallet also roughly doubled its active user base from 2023 to 2024.
MetaMask's embrace of Solana and Bitcoin is not solely driven by competition with other hot wallets. The wallet provider aims to create a "permissionlessly extensible" product that allows users to build support for new features and chains via its Snaps functionality. MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay told Decrypt that the company has been betting on the continuously growing space of new protocols.
