MetaMask, the popular crypto wallet developed by Consensys, confirmed on Thursday it will debut its proprietary U.S. dollar token (mUSD) later this year, joining the booming stablecoin market.
“MetaMask USD is a critical step in bringing the world on-chain,” said Gal Eldar, product lead at MetaMask, in a blog post.
Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrencies pegged to external assets like the U.S. dollar, have grown into a $250 billion market, often touted as a faster, cheaper option for international payments. Interest in the sector has accelerated since U.S. President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, setting new federal standards for stablecoin issuers.
MetaMask’s stablecoin project was already known to be in the works due to a prematurely posted governance proposal earlier this month. In the official announcement, the firm said that the mUSD token will be launched first on Ethereum
and Consensys-developed layer-2 network Linea, and closely integrated within the app and services.
Users will be able to on-ramp fiat, swap between tokens, and move value across blockchains, with the stablecoin later becoming spendable through the MetaMask Card at Mastercard merchants worldwide. Further plans include extend utility across decentralized finance (DeFi) and payments.
The token is issued by U.S.-licensed issuer Bridge, now part of payments giant Stripe, and underpinned by stablecoin platform M0’s blockchain infrastructure.
“With MetaMask USD, users can bring their money onchain, put it to work, spend it almost anywhere, and use it like money should be used,” Eldar said. “It will allow us to cut through some of the most stubborn barriers in web3 and reduce both friction and costs for people onboarding directly into a self-custodial wallet.”
Custom stablecoin issuance
MetaMask’s stablecoin is the first example of the partnership between M0 and Bridge to help businesses roll out custom digital dollars.
The two firms said on Thursday the partnership combines Bridge’s regulatory and reserve management expertise with M0’s blockchain infrastructure designed for application-specific stablecoins.
The idea of application-specific stablecoins has been gaining traction as the market for digital dollars is booming with improving regulatory clarity. Payment applications, crypto wallets or DeFi protocols can create their own branded dollar token while outsourcing compliance, reserves and infrastructure to providers.
For instance, Paxos issues PayPal’s PYUSD token, while BitGo is behind the Trump-affiliated DeFi protocol World Liberty Financial’s USD1. Earlier this month, U.S. fintech Slash launched its own stablecoin with Bridge.
Partnering with M0 and Bridge, MetaMask can offer a built-in digital dollar for its users without managing the complex work of issuance, compliance and tech plumbing.
Zach Abrams, co-founder and CEO of Bridge, said that they reduced the development time for custom stablecoin issuance from “more than a year of complex integrations” to “a matter of weeks. This means apps like Metamask “can realize benefits more rapidly and efficiently than ever before.”
With the partnership, M0 and Bridge are now seeking to replicate the work on MetaMask’s token for more issuers.
“Applications want to control their dollar infrastructure,” M0 founder and CEO Luca Prosperi said in an interview with CoinDesk. “What is important is that they will not have to build it themselves.”
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UPDATE (Aug. 21, 12:30 UTC): Adds MetaMask’s official stablecoin announcement, updates headline and lede.