BroadChain News, April 24, 01:16 - MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay announced on April 23 that he has officially left Consensys, ending a decade-long development career. He cited burnout as the reason, expressing a desire to spend more time with his family. Finlay previously wrote code at Apple, rarely gave interviews, and is essentially an engineer rather than a public figure. His departure comes at a critical juncture when Consensys has hired JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs as IPO advisors and plans to go public as early as this year.
MetaMask, created by Finlay and Aaron Davis within Consensys in 2016, has become one of the most well-known products in the crypto world. Its orange fox icon has been installed over 100 million times globally, with approximately 30 million monthly active users, and the Swap feature has generated over $325 million in cumulative transaction fees. However, since the company was valued at $7 billion in 2022, it has undergone at least two rounds of layoffs, and the $MASK token, rumored since 2021, has yet to see any progress.
Competitor Phantom is rapidly catching up. Phantom initially focused on the Solana wallet before expanding to Ethereum and Bitcoin. In January 2025, it raised $150 million in a Series C funding round, valuing it at $3 billion. According to whales.market data, Phantom's annualized revenue is approximately $108 million, more than double MetaMask's roughly $46 million. Phantom has benefited from the recovery of the Solana ecosystem, with Solana DEX trading volume surpassing Ethereum in 2024, and on-chain application revenue reaching $2.39 billion in 2025, a 46% year-over-year increase.
MetaMask only natively supported Solana in May 2025, previously requiring users to access it via third-party Snaps plugins, an experience akin to installing a Chrome kernel on Internet Explorer. This sluggishness is not due to technical limitations but rather an identity dilemma—MetaMask is a direct descendant of Ethereum, and its parent company Consensys was founded by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin. Supporting Solana is an expansion for Phantom but a betrayal for MetaMask.
Although MetaMask has the strongest compatibility on EVM chains, with 30 million monthly active users forming a moat, this stickiness stems from switching costs rather than product strength. When new users enter the crypto world, the wallet recommended by friends is likely no longer MetaMask. The little fox waits for the best price, but products and talent have already begun to drain.