MetaMask’s Institutional Arm Makes Push for DAOs With New Custody Deals

PARIS – MetaMask Institutional, a version of the leading decentralized finance (DeFi) wallet, has integrated new custodians to its platform in a bid to reach further into the world of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

MetaMask Institutional announced on Wednesday that it has formed partnerships with Gnosis Safe, Hex Trust, GK8 and Parfin to accommodate the crypto custody requirements of DAOs, crypto-native organizations that seek to distribute decision-making among a group of token holders.

With more than 30 million monthly active users, MetaMask is now pushing to become the primary Web 3 gateway for organizations worldwide.

“We are thrilled by our latest custodian announcement as it allows further bolstering and expansion of Web 3 into a variety of different and important regions,” said Harriet Browning, a business development lead for MetaMask Institutional.

“Coupled with the different licensed custodians, custody tech and non-custodial key management solutions means we continue to push towards our vision of bridging all organizations on planet earth into Web 3,” she said.

Enterprise MetaMask

The institutional arm of the ConsenSys-owned wallet was launched in December 2020 by ConsenSys to help crypto funds, market-makers and trading desks get exposure to Ethereum-based applications.

It is different from the traditional MetaMask wallet in that it has a built-in tech stack that connects large organizations with their required custodians. The DeFi ecosystem grew by over 20 times in 2021, according to MetaMask’s website.

With those new integrations, MetaMask Institutional has seven custodians tailored to DAOs in different jurisdictions. In October 2021, the wallet added BitGo, Qredo and Cactus Custody to help firms with compliance requirements.

MetaMask has seen tremendous growth through the acceleration of Web 3 adoption globally, tripling its million monthly user count in the last year. In March, ConsenSys closed a $450 million funding round, with MetaMask and Infura being widely seen as the Ethereum venture studio’s crown jewels.

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Helene Braun

Helene is a U.S. markets reporter at CoinDesk, covering the US economy, the Fed, and bitcoin. She is a recent graduate of New York University's business and economic reporting program.

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