The company behind the world’s most widely used crypto wallet is separating its consumer and institutional operations into two distinct businesses.
Consensys Software Inc., the Ethereum-focused technology firm founded by Joe Lubin, is splitting into two independently operated companies. The existing entity will rebrand as MetaMask—the name of its flagship self-custody wallet—while a newly formed company will retain the Consensys name and take over the firm’s Ethereum protocol work and institutional blockchain infrastructure. The split is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
MetaMask will be led by Lubin, who co-founded Ethereum alongside Vitalik Buterin, as chairman and CEO. The new Consensys will be led by CEO Mike Kriak and President David Cunningham, with Lubin serving as executive chairman.
“MetaMask grew out […] into the world’s most widely used self-custodial wallet, and today it’s becoming something larger: a platform where people don’t just hold their assets, but manage their money in its many diverse forms and aspects,” Lubin said in a statement. “Stepping into this role full-time is a recognition that consumer finance deserves the same focus and ambition that we’ve brought to building Ethereum itself.”
A self-custodial wallet is one where users hold their own private keys, meaning no bank or exchange controls access to their funds, as opposed to leaving assets on a centralised exchange.
MetaMask claims more than 100 million downloads across roughly 190 countries and has facilitated trillions of dollars in cumulative transaction volume.
Today, MetaMask begins its next chapter as an independent company.
Consensys Software Inc., the company behind MetaMask, is rebranding as MetaMask, fully focused on the consumer platform. The protocols and institutional infrastructure businesses, including Linea, are becoming a…
— MetaMask 🦊 (@MetaMask) September 9, 2026
From Wallet to Financial Platform
The rebrand reflects MetaMask’s growing ambitions beyond its original purpose as a tool for interacting with Ethereum-based applications. In June, MetaMask launched Money Account, a self-custody feature that combines stablecoin yield, payments, and trading in a single balance. MetaMask Senior Director of Product Johann Bornman told Decrypt at the time that the company was working toward a “neo-banking experience,” effectively positioning MetaMask as an alternative to traditional bank accounts, but built on blockchain rails.
MetaMask has also moved beyond its Ethereum origins. It added Bitcoin support in December following an earlier addition of Solana, allowing users to manage BTC alongside assets on Ethereum and other supported networks. The expansion followed the 2025 launch of MetaMask’s mUSD stablecoin on Ethereum and on Linea—Consensys’ own second-layer blockchain network that processes transactions faster and cheaper than the Ethereum mainnet—with plans to use the token for payments through a MetaMask debit card.
Institutional Focus for the New Consensys
The newly formed Consensys will focus on developing Ethereum infrastructure for banks, asset managers, payment providers and other financial institutions, including building blockchain systems for tokenised assets, stablecoins and settlement.
It will continue development of Linea, along with Besu, an Ethereum execution client widely used for permissioned, or enterprise-controlled, blockchain networks, and Teku, an Ethereum consensus client that helps validate transactions on the network.
The split marks the first time Ethereum’s most widely used wallet has been separated from one of its largest protocol development shops since Lubin founded the company in 2014.
“Going forward, the two companies will keep building the same ecosystem, just with the focus each market now demands,” Lubin added.
IPO Questions Loom
The restructuring arrives at a complicated moment for Consensys. The firm had reportedly engaged bankers from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to lead a potential U.S. public offering, with sources saying it had been aiming to file a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) around the end of February. Those plans were shelved, however. Crypto markets sold off sharply in February 2026 as investors pulled back from risk assets, driven by macroeconomic uncertainty, new tariff concerns, reduced expectations for interest rate cuts, and significant outflows from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Wednesday’s announcement did not address IPO plans or clarify which of the two new businesses might pursue a listing.
Consensys last raised external capital in early 2022, closing a $450 million Series D round at a $7 billion valuation. The company has not disclosed a revised figure since.
The omission is quite notable. Splitting the consumer and institutional businesses may well be designed to make MetaMask a cleaner, more attractive IPO candidate as consumer-facing fintech companies with large user bases tend to command higher market valuations than diversified infrastructure firms. But until Consensys addresses its public offering plans directly, the corporate restructuring raises as many questions as it answers. Lubin’s dual role across both companies also leaves open questions about where strategic priorities will ultimately lie when the two businesses inevitably compete for resources, engineering talent, or market positioning.