Decentralizing the wallet experience with MetaMask Snaps

At MetaMask, we embrace decentralization in everything we do. Decentralization has been key to our success from the very beginning. MetaMask transformed the Ethereum ecosystem by making it easy for developers to build decentralized applications, or dapps, with a universal web3 interface anyone could use for free. Now we’re taking the next major step in transforming web3 with a totally new kind of application: Snaps.

MetaMask Snaps are applications that run inside of MetaMask. These applications have unique capabilities that go beyond what a dapp can do. Snaps can connect to blockchains beyond Ethereum, provide insights about transactions, display notifications, enable new identity and privacy solutions, and even augment dapps with their own custom APIs. Users of MetaMask can install Snaps directly to their wallet to customize their web3 experience with these new features.

What I personally find most exciting about these Snaps is that they are built by developers outside of MetaMask. With the Snaps platform we are opening the door and inviting developers to build the features they wish to see in MetaMask, and in doing so, becoming the first to decentralize wallet innovation.

At Consensys, we recently announced our mission to “inspire and empower the builder in everyone.” In the past year I have worked with hundreds of developers in the web3 ecosystem that have been building Snaps for our Open Beta. What I have encountered time and time again are talented, passionate people who are experts in a wide variety of fields and want to make web3 better for everyone. Enabling these developers to bring their innovations to MetaMask is key to our mission. Now that MetaMask Snaps Open Beta is live and 100M+ users of MetaMask can experience this innovation, I expect that many more developers will be inspired to be part of our mission.

While the MetaMask Snaps platform may sound complex, it’s actually quite easy to get started building your own Snaps. You can follow our documentation and build your first Snap in about 5 minutes, or about 25 Ethereum blocks! Then, it’s just a matter of what you can dream and build. MetaMask has a wide variety of users, and they use the wallet in different ways.

Making one monolithic application that attempts to do everything for everyone is a fool’s errand.

Snaps make MetaMask modular. Developers can build Snaps for a wide variety of use cases, and users can snap features into their wallet like building blocks, customizing MetaMask for their own needs. As time goes on, we will continue to build more features for the MetaMask Snaps platform, which will enable developers to support new use cases, and empower users to customize their wallet even further. We already have multiple new features in the works which I can’t wait to share with you (soon)!

We are at the beginning of an epic journey. The MetaMask Snaps Open Beta is the start of a unique opportunity to shape the future of web3 together. I invite you to try the first Snaps built by the community and share your feedback with us.