MetaMask Wallet Review

Author

Max Clark

Last updated:

19 October 2026

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Disclosure

MetaMask is a free self-custodial wallet for browser and mobile, launched in 2016 and now rebranding from Consensys Software Inc. It covers Ethereum and EVM networks plus native Solana, Bitcoin and Tron, with built-in swaps, a self-custodial Mastercard debit card, Rewards and hardware wallet support. This review covers features, safety and the 30 September 2026 security incident, fees, the Card, Rewards and how MetaMask compares.

What Is MetaMask?

MetaMask is a self-custodial crypto wallet available as a browser extension, as an iOS and Android app and on the web. It is a hot wallet, so the keys live on an internet-connected device, which makes it convenient for apps and swaps and more exposed than a hardware wallet. MetaMask launched in 2016 as an Ethereum wallet and now also signs natively on Solana, Bitcoin and Tron. The company says the wallet has passed 100 million downloads across roughly 190 countries, a figure it supplies itself.

On 9 September 2026, Consensys Software Inc. announced that it will split in two. The existing company is rebranding as MetaMask and keeps the wallet and its consumer products, while a new Consensys takes over the protocol and institutional business, with the separation due to finish by the end of 2026. We covered the move in Consensys Splits MetaMask Into Independent Consumer Company.

This MetaMask wallet review covers what MetaMask offers in 2026, how safe it is, including an infrastructure incident disclosed on 30 September, fees, the MetaMask Card, Rewards, hardware wallet support and how it compares with other wallets. Specifications come from MetaMask’s own pages and help center, and security details come from MetaMask’s disclosures and public reporting. Features, products and sign-ups vary by region, so check MetaMask’s download page for the current apps.

MetaMask Features and Products in 2026

The core wallet lets you send and receive crypto, connect to dApps and manage several accounts from one Secret Recovery Phrase. According to MetaMask’s FAQ, it holds ETH, ERC-20 tokens, NFTs (ERC-721 and ERC-1155), BTC, SOL and SOL-based tokens, with TRX also on its list of supported coins, although some tokens must be imported manually before they appear. MetaMask Swaps aggregates liquidity from decentralized exchanges and professional market makers and can swap across networks, including between EVM chains, Solana, Bitcoin and Tron. Some swaps are gasless on selected networks. Snaps, small plug-ins from third parties, add new capabilities to the wallet.

Beyond the wallet, MetaMask’s menu lists Buy and Sell through payment providers, Earn, Perps for long or short trades with up to 50x leverage, Predict for trading on real-world event outcomes, and RWAs for tokenized stocks and ETFs. The trading products are high risk, and availability varies by country.

The Money Account, launched on 30 June 2026, holds mUSD, MetaMask’s own stablecoin, and advertises up to 4% variable APY, with spending through the MetaMask Card and trading from the same balance. The yield is generated through DeFi lending vaults, so it is not fixed. Availability varies by region, and the account is not offered in the UK.

Is MetaMask Safe? What the Wallet Protects and What It Does Not

Short answer: MetaMask is a legitimate, widely used wallet with a growing set of built-in protections, but it is a hot wallet, and the main risk is a user signing a malicious request or exposing the recovery phrase rather than a flaw in the wallet software. MetaMask cannot recover a lost Secret Recovery Phrase, and anyone who learns the phrase controls the funds.

Built-in protections include transaction simulation and security alerts powered by Blockaid, scam warnings that flag malicious destination addresses, live address poisoning detection added in June 2026, and Added Protection. Announced on 17 September 2026, Added Protection locks a simulated transaction result into the transaction itself, so a contract that behaves differently from its preview, known as a Red Pill attack, makes the transaction revert. It is on by default, can be switched off on the confirmation screen, and launched in extension version 13.45 on the 13 EVM networks that support smart accounts, with mobile support to follow. We reported on the launch in MetaMask Launches Added Protection to Stop Red Pill Attacks.

The paid Transaction Shield subscription ($9.99 a month or $99 a year) adds loss protection of up to $10,000 a month across up to 100 transactions that MetaMask deems safe, plus priority support. MetaMask’s help center describes the feature for the browser extension. It does not cover transactions MetaMask flags as malicious, peer-to-peer transfers, losses after a protocol is hacked or a compromised recovery phrase.

Is MetaMask Legit? Scam Emails and Fake Support

Yes, MetaMask is a real product that has been on the market since 2016, and the emails that cause alarm are usually fakes. Scammers send messages that claim a mandatory upgrade, a security alert or a suspended account and link to a drainer site. MetaMask says it will never ask you to complete KYC or to verify your account in order to keep using the wallet, so any message that does is a scam. Blockaid, MetaMask’s security partner, has flagged more than 65.4 million address poisoning attempts since January 2025, according to MetaMask’s June 2026 security report. MetaMask’s guidance lists requests for your recovery phrase or password, unexpected sender addresses and urgent upgrade demands as red flags, and it tells users never to give anyone their Secret Recovery Phrase. If you are unsure, open the app or the official site directly instead of following a link.

Has MetaMask Been Hacked? MetaMask’s Security Record

The items below are the notable 2026 security events involving MetaMask or its users. Neither is reported as a flaw in the wallet software itself, although the second is still under investigation.

This is a developing story, and this review reflects what was public on 2 October 2026. Check MetaMask’s official update page before moving large amounts, and treat any message about the incident that asks for your recovery phrase or a wallet connection as phishing. MetaMask says it will never ask for your Secret Recovery Phrase. Breaches are often followed by scams that impersonate the affected brand.

MetaMask Fees and Costs

The wallet is free to download and use. MetaMask charges a 0.875% service fee on swaps, built into the quote, on top of pool fees and network gas. On a $1,000 swap that is about $8.75 before gas and slippage. Buying crypto through MetaMask’s providers adds the provider’s fee and network fees on top of any MetaMask fee, so you receive less crypto than the fiat amount you enter, and the providers usually require identity checks. The wallet itself does not ask for ID. Rabby, an EVM-only alternative, charges 0.25% on its built-in swap, so frequent traders may want to compare. Transaction Shield and the Metal tier of the MetaMask Card are optional paid products.

MetaMask Card: Self-Custodial Mastercard Debit

The MetaMask Card is a Mastercard debit card that spends from your own wallet, and MetaMask’s help center says it is not a credit card. You delegate funds from the wallet for spending, and MetaMask says the card works wherever Mastercard is accepted. It supports networks including Linea, Base, Solana and Monad.

The free Virtual card pays 1% back in mUSD on eligible purchases, and the Metal card pays 3% back on the first $10,000 spent each year and 1% after that. According to MetaMask’s limits and fees page, the Metal tier costs $199 a year, and the Virtual card charges 1% on purchases with merchants outside the cardholder’s country and 2% on ATM withdrawals, which are open only to Metal cardholders and US Virtual cardholders. Spending other cryptocurrencies such as wETH carries a 0.875% fee, and the app shows a fee breakdown on each transaction.

Availability is the main catch. According to MetaMask’s help center, new Card sign-ups in the United States and the United Kingdom are temporarily paused, and new Metal card orders have been paused since 2 June 2026. Signing up requires identity verification through a KYC process and proof of residency, and the card is offered only in selected countries, so check MetaMask’s eligibility list before planning around it.

MetaMask Rewards, Referral Codes and the MetaMask Token

MetaMask Rewards is the wallet’s loyalty program, run through MetaMask Mobile. Season 1 ran from 28 October 2025 to 23 January 2026, paid out a share of more than $30 million in LINEA tokens and had closed its claim window by 23 February 2026. MetaMask relaunched Rewards on 6 May 2026 with trading challenges, airdrops and a Benefits tab that surfaces partner perks, and as of 2 October its Rewards page was promoting a trading challenge with up to $100,000 in prizes. The program is unavailable in the United Kingdom and in regions where MetaMask services are not supported, and MetaMask’s Rewards FAQ says hardware wallet accounts are not supported.

During Season 1, points came from swaps, perps trades, prediction markets and Card spending, and a referral code gave a friend 250 extra points while the referrer earned 10 points for every 50 the friend earned. MetaMask’s Rewards page still lists that referral scheme under Season 1, so check the Rewards tab for the current rules. Referrals pay in points rather than cash. We do not publish a referral code, since the code is a personal feature inside the app.

Consensys founder Joe Lubin said in September 2025 that a MetaMask token was coming, and MetaMask’s Rewards page lists future token allocations among its Season 1 benefits. On 30 September 2026, Lubin said MetaMask is evaluating several paths for a native token but has no immediate plans to launch MASK, as reported by Cointelegraph and other outlets. MetaMask has not published a launch date or eligibility rules, so Rewards points are not a guarantee of any token. Beware of fake claim sites and rely only on MetaMask’s own channels.

MetaMask With a Hardware Wallet

MetaMask can use a hardware wallet as the signer, which keeps the keys on the device and requires physical approval of every transaction. MetaMask’s help center lists Ledger, Trezor and Lattice for USB connections and QR-based wallets such as Keystone, AirGap Vault and NGRAVE ZERO, all usable in the extension, with Ledger, Keystone and NGRAVE ZERO also available on mobile. Hardware accounts are limited to EVM networks, so Solana and other non-EVM assets cannot use this setup, and MetaMask’s own hardware wallet guide covers the connection steps.

For balances you cannot afford to lose, pairing MetaMask with a hardware wallet is the standard advice. See our Ledger review and Trezor review for the models compared. If you use MetaMask to fund a crypto casino, read our guide to MetaMask casinos and keep only the amount you plan to use in the wallet you connect.

MetaMask vs Trust Wallet, Phantom and Rabby

MetaMask is the default choice for EVM apps, but other wallets fit different needs.

Setup and Compatibility

Install MetaMask only from metamask.io/download or the official store listing for your browser, check the publisher name, and avoid links in emails or ads. MetaMask offers extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Edge and Opera, apps for iOS and Android and a web version. You can create the wallet with a 12-word Secret Recovery Phrase, which you should write down by hand and store offline, or, where offered, with a Google, Apple or Telegram login plus a MetaMask password. If you lose the phrase, or the social account or the password, nobody can recover the wallet for you, MetaMask included. Read our guide to seed phrases before you set up.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Strong dApp compatibility across EVM networks, plus native Solana, Bitcoin and Tron
• Built-in protections: Blockaid alerts, address poisoning detection and Added Protection
• Hardware wallet support for Ledger, Trezor, Lattice and QR wallets
• Optional Card, Money Account, Transaction Shield and Rewards in one app
• Free to use, with public source code

Cons:

• Hot wallet: phishing and malicious approvals are the main risk
• 0.875% swap fee on top of network and pool fees
• Infrastructure security incident disclosed on 30 September 2026, with cause and scope not yet disclosed
• The Card, Rewards and some products are limited by region, and new Card sign-ups are paused in the US and UK
• Transaction Shield does not cover stolen recovery phrases, and the Card requires identity verification

BCR Verdict

MetaMask remains the default gateway to Ethereum and EVM apps, and it has grown into a broader wallet with native Solana, Bitcoin and Tron, built-in protections such as Added Protection, a self-custodial Card and hardware wallet support. That breadth earns it 8.5 out of 10 in our rating.

Two things hold the score back. It is a hot wallet, so its safety depends heavily on the user’s habits, and the 0.875% swap fee is high next to some rivals. The infrastructure incident disclosed on 30 September is also unresolved as of 2 October, even though MetaMask says there is no indication that wallets or customer funds have been affected.

Active dApp and DeFi users who keep a working balance in MetaMask and larger holdings on a hardware wallet get the best of it. Cost-sensitive traders may prefer a lower-fee alternative, and newcomers should learn to read approvals before signing. Compare other options in our crypto wallet reviews, including the Ledger review and Trezor review.

BCR Score: 8.5/10

This review is editorial information, not financial advice. With self-custody you alone are responsible for your recovery phrase or login credentials and for checking what you sign.

How MetaMask Wallet Review Compares

	MetaMask Wallet Review This review	Ledger Wallet Review	Trezor Wallet Review
Overall rating	8.5/10	8.8/10	8.6/10
Key Feature	Free self-custodial wallet	Secure Element chip	Open-source firmware
Coins	ETH and ERC-20 tokens, NFTs, plus BTC, SOL and TRX	500+ native, thousands via third-party wallets	Thousands of coins and tokens
Networks	Ethereum and EVM networks, Solana, Bitcoin, Tron	BTC, ETH, SOL + 100+ chains	BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP + thousands of tokens
Custody Type	Self-custody (non-custodial)	Self-custody (non-custodial)	Self-custody (non-custodial)
	Play Now	Play NowRead review	Play NowRead review