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Metamask may face the severe test since its establishment.
Many encrypted users have said that they have uninstalled the Metamask plug -in, and many newcomers who have entered the circle have not even heard of this name.We noticed that Metamask no longer seems indispensable as before.Facing the intensification of the external competitive environment, the dislocation of product logic in Metamask’s internal product logic has caused its competitiveness to decline sharply. The backbone Consensys focuses on the ideology and cannot implant the user’s first product spirit in its moat.Metamask was caught in the fall of crisis.
This is the most intense market competition since Metamask was founded
With the early “zero competition” environment and the support of CONSENSYS behind the Ethereum ecology, Metamask has obtained an unshakable ecological card in Ethereum ecology.Web3 wallet products continue to work, Metamask is facing a fierce market competition since its establishment.
Bitcoin and Solana Ecology Rise Strong Rise
In May last year, the ORDinals protocol has risen, and the wealth effect began to appear. The news of “ORDI per capita” was spread in various WeChat groups, and within a few days, $ NALS, $ UTXO, $ ELON and other ten times coins, hundreds of times, hundreds of times, hundreds of times, hundredsOpportunity.A large number of users FOMO entered the BRC market. The related WeChat groups related to the BRC-20, from a group to eight groups, were full in less than one afternoon.Starting from October, with the expectations of Bitcoin spot ETF, with the inscriptions as the core, Bitcoin NFT, infrastructure and other related concepts have obtained super high increases.Rolling Ethereum.
The “Inscription Summer” in 2023 is the same as the ICO in 2017 and the Defi Summer in 2020, injecting a lot of fresh blood into the encrypted world through the wealth -making effect. Unlike the previous hair in Ethereum, this time occurred in Bitcoin this time BitcoinThe ecology then spread to various public chains, including Ethereum.
In the early days as the only chain in the BRC token, the Bitcoin Wallet Unisat became the name that the entire currency circle was discussed. It was one of the few early projects that really grasped the Bitcoin ecological explosion.Around May 2023, Dune data showed that UNISAT ’s independent users daily during this time were about 4,000 to 8,000, and it was an absolute mainstream in the market at that time.
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The comparison chart of the number of transactions in the same period through Bitcoin and Ethereum network can be seen that in the second half of 2023, the activity of the Bitcoin network is significantly higher than that of Ethereum. ThereforeGet traffic growth at the dividend.
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In addition to the rise of Bitcoin ecology, there are Solana who took the counterattack script. SOL is one of the leaders who rebounded in the second half of 2023. As of the end of 2023, the market value of SOL was 43.8 billion US dollars, an increase of 423%month -on -month, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth, a year -on -year increase of growth.1106%.Meme coin Bonk and JTO airdrop hit the head array, bringing Solana’s ecological popularity out of the circle, and then the MEME season that ushered in the SOLANA DEX transaction volume surpassed Ethereum for a time, so that the Solana ecological infrastructure project received a lot of benefits, including Dex RaydiumAnd wallet Phantom.
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Phantom is like Metamask in Ethereum. Solana, which specializes in non -EVM ecosystem, Phantom has made a riding dust, but it does not just stop here.Phantom announced in May 2023 that it will also support the EVM ecology, and multiple other wallet products can be added to the wallet.With Solana’s strong return, Phantom has stood in the wallet, and has become a opponent that Metamask cannot ignore.
Competitive rival overtaking
Metamask not only has many competing products in the non -EVM ecology. The Ethereum ecological wallet Rainbow targets the target users of Metamask through differentiated marketing strategies.The user also prepared points, and Rainbow said to this provocative strategy, “This is not a vampire attack, this is a fox hunting activity.”
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Rainbow Wallet uses two emoji to express the “fox hunting action”
The special feature of Rainbow is that it connects to the Coingecko data and directly display the token price change on the trading interface of the tokens at the plug -in.The price changes of Zhou, Yue, and Year are the scale.For users, when trading tokens often need to view the price fluctuations in the tokens, this function is well fits the user’s usage scenario.And Metamask only provides token trading functions at this interface. Users need to click “Portfolio” to jump to the web page to view more information.
Metamask’s competitors are far more than independent wallet products, but also DEX and CEX.In the past, Coinbase launched its own wallet Coinbase Wallet, and then Uniswap launched its own wallet Uniswap Wallet, because everyone realized that wallets are the core starting points in business scenarios. With the wallet, they have the traffic entrance to form business.Closed loop, and in this regard, Metamask’s enemy is Oxk’s web3 wallet.
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As mentioned earlier, Unisat has become a new wallet by seizing the opportunity of the Bitcoin ecosystem, but the biggest winner of the BRC-20 is actually OKX and its web3 wallet.The BRC20 boom opened by UNISAT continued until the end of May 2023, and then the inscription market fell into a trough due to security.However, the BRC20 and Ordinals NFT transactions launched by OKX wallets in June allowed the entire market to reunify confidence in Bitcoin ecology.In October, the loading capacity of the OKX Web3 wallet plug -in was 200,000. As of the writing, the number of downloads in Google Store was 500,000.
However, OKX Web3 wallets also gave users more unexpected experiences after leverage the market share.I realized that this was because I saw such a currency buying tutorial in a certain community. Prior to this, I never used functions outside the BRC-20 market for the OKX Web3 wallet mobile phone.The simple trading tutorial can’t help but be a bit incredible. “Is it convenient to buy coins on mobile phones?”
At the beginning, I didn’t even find the entrance to copy the official website of DEX, but after completing the transaction through the mobile wallet, all this is like the WEB2 RSS subscription service, which is very smooth in experience.The little fox’s mobile phone has always been not very high, and the tools for users to access business scenarios will bring a clear sense of experience.Specifically, in terms of product data, the registration conversion rate of new users is very low, and the completion rate of calling Metamask in the mobile terminal’s business scenario is also very low.
In addition to the mobile phone, the plug -in end of the OKX Web3 wallet can be seen from the UI interface that it provides more details from the OKX Web3 wallet compared to the Metamask wallet.For example, in the wallet “Select the Network” section, Metamask on the left needs to be added manually. The right on the right OKX Web3 wallet shows all the network supported, and provides the “all networks” options for users to view all assets of the account.In the currency display interface, in addition to the display quantity and balance, the OKX Web3 wallet will also display the current price and rising decline of the currency.
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Left: Metamask plug -in interface Right: OKX Web3 wallet plug -in interface
In the community, users have reported that OKX Web3 wallets and Metamask have conflicts on the web page. When connecting the little fox wallet, the OKX wallet options will be jumped out. This shows the efforts made by the OKX wallet in snatching the market share of the user.But what should be paid more attention to is that the web3 industry is transforming from the friendly financial game of encrypted punk to the consumer application industry of Volkswagen. Regardless of the posture, grasping users is the first priority of a product’s long -term survival.
Guided by developers, it is difficult to create a new moat for Metamask
The Phantom wallet’s CEO Brandon Millman once said that “it is obvious, Metamask was built by developers for other developers. This is actually very reasonable, because most users of Ethereum are developers in the early days.”
The cost of user education in blockchain products is very high, and wallets are the most basic but most critical steps.Metamask earlier thanks to the support of the Ethereum community. At that time, the “zero competitive environment” was the best barriers to occupy the great market share, and the cost of user education was very low, because all users were developers, and all users were developers.Developers are also all users.This developer -oriented product changes have given many opportunities for new wallet products that work hard to divide Metamask’s market share with the user experience.
In Metamask’s product strategy, the user experience is not the consideration of the first consideration, or the ordinary consumer users for developers are not the main reference department of Metamask to build a product.All this stems from Metamask’s clear positioning of itself, and does not compete with the wallet category of low -standard entry thresholds, but is that the function of opening the wallet to expand its possibility.In the short term, this kind of strategic layout for developers is difficult to establish effective moats in the current encrypted market competition and obtain excess returns.
Pay attention to developers
If you are a wallet product Builder, I believe it must be no stranger to Metamask’s product updates in recent years; but if you are just an ordinary end user, the Metamask you used two or three years ago seemed to be in the operation experience.There is nothing different.
In October 2020, Metamask launched the polymer DEX service “Metamask Swaps”, allowing users to directly exchange tokens based on Metamask. Through this function, Metamask finally has a sustainable income model, but this is also a rare Metamask for ordinary wallets to ordinary wallets.User -friendly product update.
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Metamask reached a revenue of 200 million US dollars in 2021 through SWAP function
Metamask launched Metamask Institutional (MMI) for institutional customers with existing user groups and paid capabilities in 2021 to facilitate the gap between traditional financial structure and blockchain technology.In January 2022, Metamask launched the developer version of “Metamask Flask”. Developers can build Metamask Snaps through Flask. It does not need Metamask to participate when the Metamask function is expanded at runtime.
Until September last year, the first version of Metamask Snaps was officially launched. The 34 SNAPS provided included functions such as identifying potential security hazards, interoperability of non -EVM chains such as Bitcoin, and Web3 notifications.However, as ordinary users, it does not seem to have improved the substantial experience in this update.
Metamask Snaps requires users to add manually, which is a very low cost -effective choice for users who are unfamiliar with SNAP product logic.More than thirty SNAPs include many functions, just like the applet launched by WeChat, users can get a lot of incremental experience or behaviors other than ecology, but this is based on SNAP.Otherwise, the user cannot know what these Snap can do, just like a small program, which failed coldly.
For example, the ETHSIGN developer team created a universal password manager called Keychain based on Metamask Snaps. All browser passwords can be encrypted and stored with wallet keys.This itself is a very market -based product concept, but it has not gained a circle effect.Or the Dialog function of Metamask Snap, you can pop up a separate window, similar to the traditional alarm/confirmation/prompt dialog box, which is used for transaction reminder, confirmation and information submission.Not big.
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Picture source: lxdao
Although each user who uses the Metamask bag can form a different SNAPS according to their needs to meet personalized needs, Metamask Snaps does not solve the problem of too high use threshold for encryption wallets, and does not achieve the purpose of acquiring new users.Provide existing users with better experience and more functions to retain the current stock users.
Alex, the person in charge of Metamask product, said in an interview that the entire team’s positioning of Metamask was very clear. Its main purpose was not to compete with the wallet category with low -standard entry thresholds, but to open the function of open wallets to expand its possibility.For example, if developers want to enhance security by using advanced encryption technologies such as multi -party computing (MPC) and threshold signature scheme (TSS), they can create a SNAP and add it to Metamask to implement this function.Or for those who are committed to developing account abstraction solutions, they can also develop a Snap to attach it to Metamask to expand its function.
“We have our own internal thoughts, but we also hope to make Metamask flexibility and adaptability to adapt to future technological development.”It can be seen that the METAMASK team still focuses on serving the user group with developers as its core, and has still adhered to a relatively ambiguous attitude towards consumer -level user experience, account abstraction, etc.The reason why the user group is too large.
It is also worth noting that Metamask has not achieved the “user first” principle on the feedback channel. Google plug -in store can see that many user feedback content has not received customer service response.When reflecting the Metamask product problem on Twitter, the content of the comment area often appears is fishing accounts and fraud links.
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Vision crazy Consensys: We do not do the sinking market
Metamask did not choose to enter the sinking market. The core reason is the parent company Consensys behind it.
As mentioned earlier, after several years of hard work, Metamask has now become one of the most successful incubation projects of Consensys. In addition, Consensys also has the development kit Infura, smart contract audit service Diligence, Ethereum Layer 2 Linea, Ethereum client Teku, BESU and other product sections.
The reason why Consensys is “Vision Magic” is that it is different from other profitable companies in the encrypted world simply using economic benefits as the driver’s factors.Its founder Joseph Lubin is one of the Ethereum joint ventures. Consensys also seems to inherit certain genes of Ethereum and use the encryption vision as a compass for business layout.
In 2023, the Linea main network of Consensys launched the Metamask Snaps, and it also launched the Web3 Fellowship program, Linea Defi Voyage and other activities.In September 2023, in order to better support Web3 builders, Consensys announced the closure of its development tool Truffle and Ganache, and shifted the Truffle team’s key to expand its Infura, Metamask Snaps and SDK products.
It can be said that the role played in the encrypted world is mainly based on infrastructure, and it will not focus on polishing product details as CEX, which directly faces most users in the market. It is more like serving the web3 industry, not web3 users.
Metamask Lianchuang Aaron Davis mentioned in the sixth anniversary blog that “most of the things in the popular web3 will not appear within 20 or 30 years.”The Metamask team’s goal of Web3 is to build a “Civilization Starter Kit”.It can be seen that Metamask’s senior management also pays more attention to narrative and less about details in terms of development vision and product development strategies.
Metamask does not want to serve users, but wants to promote its own products in a more secure and stable way, but in the short term, it is difficult to establish an effective moat for Metamask to face today’s market competition.Because infrastructure and developers are essential for the development of the entire industry, it is always users who have the right to decide whether the specific product can exist.
Wallet is still the breakthrough of Mass Adoption
Back to recently, due to the recovery of the encrypted market, more and more projects have launched interaction, testing or points. Users are slightly cumbersome when managing assets and switching different ecosystems.In the past, we said how many chains were clear, and now we have to say how many wallets are not clear.
Metamask is still the No. 1 wallet with market share, but Metamask has not been evaluated in the same position as its user experience. Although Metamask’s entire team technology is very excellent, they are more inclined to regard Metamask as infrastructure, as well as facing faces, as well as facing facingDevelopers have launched development tools instead of consumer projects. The launch of Metamask Snap can also see this product change idea.
The role played by the wallet in the blockchain world is very special. It does not directly store the value. It is just an account as an asset on the user management chain. Therefore, it is difficult for wallets to build their own moat by technology.
Nowadays, the wallet market has entered the stage of sinking market and competing for user share. As the closest product of the blockchain infrastructure, the user experience is the simplest and most important way for wallets to establish a moat.Metamask’s mission of product strategy with developers as its core and new cycle wallet is misplaced.
By observing users and new technological directions, the most difficult problem is that the account system itself is not easy to use. You cannot ask a novice who wants to enter the web3 to first learn how to add RPC to Metamask. This matter is very unrealistic.And even for veterans on the chain, the complicated process is also embarrassed to transfer assets, transactions and pledge assets between countless chains.
Last year, Paradigm proposed “Intent-CENTRIC”, which brought a new idea of establishing a web3 interactive experience for “centering-centered” to the encryption world-hiding the previous complex operating process, users can realize the purpose without sense and directly realize the purpose of the purpose.EssenceIdeally, users only need to issue an intention instruction, and all operations can automatically perform behind the scenes. This concept seems to be the best catalyst provided by the wallet to complete Mass Adoption.
“Safe” is definitely a lifeline of wallets, but “traffic” is more like the short board on the barrel.This article does not mean to step on different wallets, just to observe Metamask’s situation in the entire wallet and possible problems from the perspective of an ordinary user.To rely on “intent” to realize the large -scale use of users, it must also depend on the optimization of protocols and infrastructure.When cross -chain infrastructure has not yet been perfect, a good wallet may be the most important cross -chain product for ordinary users.
