Consensys Software Inc. is splitting into two independently operating companies, turning MetaMask from a product brand into the name of the consumer-facing company itself while moving protocol and institutional infrastructure operations into a newly formed company that will continue to use the Consensys name. The two businesses have already begun operating separately, and the separation process is expected to be completed before the end of 2026.
The reorganization was announced on Sept. 9, 2026. Once completed, the original Consensys Software Inc. will operate as MetaMask and oversee the MetaMask platform and other consumer products. Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, previously the founder and CEO of Consensys, will become chairman and CEO of MetaMask.
The new Consensys will take over protocol and institutional infrastructure businesses. Mike Kriak, CEO of Consensys Mesh, will serve as CEO of the new company. David Cunningham, formerly head of global institutional business at Consensys, will become president, while Lubin will also serve as executive chairman.
Two businesses, two tracks
The split draws a clear line between the two operations.
MetaMask will target individual users and focus on lowering the barrier to onchain finance, extending the wallet from a trading tool into an everyday money management entry point. Money Account, MetaMask Card, the mUSD stablecoin, and trading and investment functions all sit inside that consumer strategy.
The new Consensys will focus on banks, asset managers, payment firms and other enterprises, with an emphasis on Ethereum and institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure. Businesses including Linea, Besu and Teku will remain there to support tokenized assets, stablecoins, programmable settlement and enterprise blockchain networks.
In an interview with Fortune, Lubin said the value of MetaMask’s consumer business has been growing faster than the rest of Consensys. The company said the consumer and institutional segments have different growth paths and need separate management teams, investment strategies and room to develop.
MetaMask is moving beyond the wallet gateway role
MetaMask launched in 2016 and initially focused on key management, transaction signing and connecting users to Ethereum applications. Its early mission was straightforward: make Ethereum easier for ordinary users to access.
In its 10-year anniversary post, MetaMask said the project repository was created in 2015 and the first official release went live in July 2016. It then went through market cycles including the ICO boom, DeFi and NFTs, gradually becoming one of the most widely used wallet gateways in the Ethereum ecosystem.
According to figures published by MetaMask, the product has been downloaded more than 100 million times, reaches about 190 countries and territories, and has facilitated cumulative transaction volume in the trillions of dollars.
Staying only as an Ethereum access point has become less sufficient for a wallet company seeking growth, especially as rivals move into MetaMask’s core market and exchange wallets keep gaining share.
MetaMask has also expanded beyond Ethereum. In 2025, it added native support for Solana, and in December of that year it formally added Bitcoin support.
More financial activity inside the wallet
The bigger shift is not only multichain expansion. MetaMask has been bringing more actions that once required users to leave the wallet directly into the wallet environment.
Its product set now spans token swaps, perpetual contracts, prediction markets, payments and tokenized real-world assets.
In September 2025, MetaMask launched the mUSD stablecoin. The token is backed 1:1 by U.S. dollars and short-term U.S. Treasuries, held with regulated custodians, and issued through Bridge, a Stripe subsidiary.
In February 2026, MetaMask partnered with Ondo Finance to integrate Ondo Global Markets into the wallet, giving users access to tokenized U.S. stocks, ETFs and commodities.
That same month, MetaMask Card officially launched. The debit card is directly connected to a MetaMask wallet and is offered in partnership with Mastercard and Baanx, allowing users to spend crypto held in their wallets at merchants that accept Mastercard.
As those products have rolled out, MetaMask’s product logic has changed. The wallet once sent users out to different financial applications. Now it is trying to bring more of those applications’ functions into the wallet itself.
How Money Account fits the strategy
If perpetuals, prediction markets, RWAs and the payment card were expansions in features, the MetaMask Money Account introduced in June is an attempt to reorganize how user funds work inside the wallet.
Money Account is a self-custodial account built on Monad. After users deposit funds, supported assets are converted into MetaMask’s own dollar stablecoin, mUSD, and then deployed into onchain DeFi strategies to generate yield.
MetaMask said infrastructure for Money Account is provided by firms including Veda and Steakhouse Financial, with funds generating yield through DeFi markets. In the product materials released at launch, MetaMask listed a regular offering of up to about 4% floating APY.
The company’s example says a user who deposits $1,000 into Money Account can still use that balance to buy tokens, perpetual contracts, prediction market positions, tokenized stocks, ETFs and commodities. The user can also transfer funds to other wallets and, where regional and product conditions are met, spend directly through MetaMask Card. Any unused balance continues participating in yield strategies.
The design is meant to compress a workflow that has usually been fragmented onchain. Previously, users often had one balance sitting in the wallet, moved funds into a DeFi protocol to earn yield, then withdrew, swapped or transferred assets elsewhere if they wanted to spend them. Money Account is intended to put yield, trading, transfers and spending inside the same account.
MetaMask has framed that step as a move toward a fuller financial platform. Under its "Open Money" positioning, the company wants users to be able to hold, move, grow and use assets on a single platform.
No firm answer on an IPO or a token
The corporate split naturally raises two other questions: an IPO and a MetaMask token. For now, neither has a clear answer.
Fortune reported that Consensys had previously considered going public, but Lubin did not provide any new IPO timetable in this round of comments.
The token question is equally unresolved. Lubin had previously signaled the possibility of a MetaMask token, but Fortune reported in this latest coverage that he said the current commercial and regulatory environment has reduced the number of companies hoping to issue their own cryptocurrencies.
Existing users will not need to move anything
The restructuring will not change existing MetaMask users’ apps, assets, keys or access methods. Users will not need to migrate wallets, reimport seed phrases or move tokens.
MetaMask’s SDK, APIs and developer tools will also continue to run.
MetaMask is no longer positioning itself only as the doorway into the onchain world. By putting stablecoins, yield accounts, cards, trading functions and tokenized assets into one self-custodial system, it is trying to keep more financial activity inside its own platform.