MetaMask launches the “Pooled Staking” service: liquid staking of Ethereum directly on the wallet begins

The custodial solutions provider MetaMask, and its parent company Consensys, have just launched a “pooled staking” service, which allows its users to lock Ethereum within the Beacon chain operating directly from the wallet, without going through the various liquid staking platforms.

The provider designed as a partner to host the new deposits and withdrawals is StakeWise, one of the most well-known staking protocols in the Ethereum ecosystem.

The service will be available in the coming days, but users in the United Kingdom and the United States will not be able to use it due to regulatory constraints in the two countries.

Let’s see everything in detail below.

MetaMask launches liquid staking of Ethereum within its own wallet: direct stakes to StakeWise 

MetaMask, renowned provider of non-custodial software wallets, has just announced the imminent launch of the “Pooled Staking” service, which will allow its customers to take advantage of liquid Ethereum staking directly within the wallet extension, without going through external dapps.

In reality, there is already a way to stake ETH on MetaMask, but it concerns exclusively staking only, which is a practice reserved for holders of at least 32 ETH ($113,000 according to current valuations), which natively targets validators managed by Consensys.

Instead, with the latest digital product launched, users of the decentralized wallet will be able to do liquid staking even with fractions of ether earning the related rewards, thus opening new connections with the retail public who do not possess significant capital in crypto.

With “Pooled Staking”, the participants indirectly rely on the liquid staking protocol StakeWise, which uses a modular on-chain architecture and holds a market share of 0.74%, equivalent to 343 million dollars, in the LSDs market.

In total, according to what was reported by DefiLlama, this sector of the Ethereum ecosystem is worth 13.15 million ETH, equivalent to a value of 46.2 billion dollars.

We remind you that like all other liquid staking services, this one is also subject to waiting times for withdrawals to the wallet, which vary depending on the so-called queue, that is, the exit queue of the validators of Ethereum who, for security reasons, cannot exit en masse at the same time.

It is worth noting, however, that Pooled Staking will not be available for customers residing in the United Kingdom and the United States, due to some regulatory uncertainties. However, Consensys has stated that it eventually intends to bring shared staking to these markets as soon as possible.

Regarding the news, Senior Product Manager of Consensys Matthieu Saint Olive stated the following in a note:

“With Pooled Staking, MetaMask users now have an easy way to stake ETH in enterprise-level validators while maintaining full control of their ETH, earning rewards, and making Ethereum more secure. We are excited to bring our staking solution to many more MetaMask users.”

Currently, about 27.1% of the circulating supply of ether, equal to 33 million ether, is locked on the Beacon chain, with the majority concentrated around a few large pools.

Consensys states that staking in MetaMask pools is supported by over 33,000 Ethereum validators hosted in a multi-cloud, multi-region, and multi-client infrastructure, with a history of zero slashed validators and strong internal participation.

Will MetaMask launch its own token in the future? Here’s how to qualify for the potential airdrop

The introduction of “Pooled Staking” by MetaMask represents just the latest initiative by the branch of Consensys, with the aim of adapting to the growing stimuli of the Ethereum ecosystem and more generally of the entire cryptographic landscape.

The most famous provider of non-custodial crypto wallets in the world is always on the lookout to ensure that its users have all the tools at their disposal for an experience in line with market evolution and the various profit opportunities that arise every day.

Unlike other competitors in the market, however, MetaMask has not yet launched a token:

Although in the past rumors have emerged about a possible launch of the MASK token, supported by an airdrop to early users of the decentralized wallet, nothing is known about it yet.

The founders of Consensys in June 2023 had denied the rumors regarding a drop of a native token last year, but this does not preclude that this could potentially arrive in the coming months, adding a fundamental factor for the governance of the community.

MetaMask has indeed collected many fees in recent years and has obtained VC funding for about 715 million dollars, therefore the company has all the cards on the table to execute a very interesting airdrop.

Even though the launch of a proprietary MetaMask token is still a mirage, we can still try to perform some on-chain interactions to potentially become eligible and enjoy a rich reward, should it actually arrive.

Qualifying is very simple: just use all the products listed in the MetaMask Portfolio section at least 2-3 times in different months, which include the functions of “buy”, “sell“, “swap”, “stake”, “bridge” and “send & receive”

It is also worth noting that last month the MetaMask wallet implemented for the first time support for Bitcoin, following similar moves by other providers like Phantom: using internal interoperability services to exchange Bitcoin from EVM environments will be crucial to position oneself for a possible airdrop.

Obviously then, even the latest innovation of “Pooled Staking” will have to be embraced by users who want to position themselves as loyal users of the Ethereum ecosystem, simultaneously demonstrating their dedication to the infrastructures led by Consensys.

All possible interactions with MetaMask, however, entail higher commission costs compared to other similar services, as the wallet is only an intermediary between users and decentralized applications.

It is therefore essential not to execute transactions compulsively, spending more on gas and fees than one could earn with a token airdrop.