MetaMask is to become an independent company as part of a planned split from Consensys, in a move that has intensified speculation that the blockchain technology firm could pursue a US stock market listing as early as 2027.
Consensys Software Inc announced the restructuring on Wednesday, saying its consumer wallet platform would separate from the parent company. Consensys will continue to concentrate on blockchain protocols and infrastructure for institutional customers.
Joe Lubin, Consensys’ executive chairman, will become MetaMask’s chairman and chief executive. He said the decision marked the next stage in a relationship that had helped shape much of the Ethereum ecosystem.
For more than a decade, Consensys has worked on the Ethereum protocol and developed infrastructure designed to support self-custodial finance, where users retain control of their digital assets rather than entrusting them to a centralised intermediary.
Lubin said MetaMask had grown out of that work to become one of “the world’s most widely used self-custodial wallets.”
The platform is now being developed into a broader financial service that will allow users to manage money “in its many diverse forms and aspects,” according to Lubin.
He added that taking charge of MetaMask on a full-time basis reflected his belief that consumer finance should receive “the same focus and ambition” that Consensys had applied to building Ethereum.
Separate companies, shared ecosystem
The new Consensys will remain focused on protocols and institutional infrastructure. Its expertise in Ethereum, Hyperledger Besu and Linea will move “up the stack”, with the aim of helping institutions operate in an increasingly “always-on, onchain world.”
Lubin said the two businesses would continue operating within the same wider ecosystem but would have a clearer focus on their respective markets.
“The company will build on more than a decade of enterprise blockchain work, including foundational contributions to the Ethereum protocol,” the Consensys press announcement concluded.
Consensys was valued at $7 billion after raising $450 million in a Series D funding round in March 2022. Depending on how secondary and strategic investments are categorised by financial databases, the company has taken part in between six and eight funding rounds.
Its investors include Microsoft, Softbank Vision Fund 2, Temasek, ParaFi Capital, JPMorgan Chase and Coinbase Ventures.
The company has undergone several rounds of job cuts since 2023. In July 2025, it eliminated a further 47 positions.
The planned separation has prompted speculation that the restructuring could help prepare the business for an initial public offering in the United States. Consensys was reportedly working with JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs on preparations for a possible public listing, although no date had been disclosed.
Those IPO plans were later postponed by Lubin and the company. Following the latest announcement, it is expected that Consensys could revisit the possibility of a listing, potentially as soon as 2027.
The announcement also comes as the cryptocurrency community discusses a new meme coin associated with Hunter Biden, after the token’s launch was followed by a fall in its price.
