In brief

  • MetaMask hit the 1 million active user milestone in September.
  • It cited the rise of DeFi and blockchain games among various growth factors.
  • The humble browser showed simplicity is key for outsized crypto adoption.

Crypto wallet MetaMask hit the 1 million monthly active users last month on the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) apps, DAOs, and blockchain games, the firm said in a release today.

MetaMask is an extension for accessing Ethereum-enabled distributed applications or "dapps" using popular browsers like Google Chrome. The extension can “read” Ethereum code on any website, providing users with a seamless and accessible took to interact with various dapps and blockchain products.

The firm said that significant growth in the “adoption of DAOs, Web3 games and the rapid consumer uptake of DeFi products” cause an uptick in user growth and adoption, especially as users found they could use one dapp to access hundreds of others.

MetaMask's growth in active users. Image: MetaMask

MetaMask’s user growth closely mirrors the rise of DeFi applications this year. In fact, a chart showing the “total value locked” (TVL)—a measure of the number of cryptocurrencies stored and staked on a particular dapp—is similar to MetaMask's rise in user growth, as the image below shows:

MetaMask's growth corelates to that of the rise in value locked on DeFi apps. Image: DeFiPulse

“This 2020 curve parallels the trend in DeFi adoption, indicating that new users are coming to MetaMask specifically to participate in the decentralized finance revolution,” noted MetaMask on the correlation.

MetaMask features led to user boom

MetaMask said cryptocurrency storage is a thinly-used feature in the current market, “When you think about it, people don’t really want a wallet. They want to invest, sell, lend, borrow."

“They want to use sites like Uniswap, Yearn, Curve, Maker, and Aave to get that job done. MetaMask is simply the connective tissue," it added.

Meanwhile, MetaMask said its newly launched mobile app, called MetaMask Mobile, brought in new users into the broader crypto ecosystem. It noted the top four countries, in order of the volume of mobile users, were the US, India, Nigeria, and the Philippines.

Cryptocurrency applications have got a rap for being overly complicated or too difficult for an average user (who may not have the technical skills required). But MetaMask’s growth story shows simplicity could be the key to change that.