ConsenSys Designs New Smart Routing Mechanism to Streamline MetaMask Transactions

ConsenSys Inc, a private blockchain software technology company that has focused on building web3 infrastructure, is on the verge of releasing a game-changer feature for the MetaMask wallet. According to a report by CoinDesk, MetaMask has been testing a transaction routing feature to enable users to get the best possible connection for token swaps. The new routing tech has been developed by web3 developers from the Special Mechanism Group (SMG), which was purchased by ConsenSys last year.

Notably, the new routing tech is meant to protect users from different challenges associated with token swaps including bot front-running through maximal extractable value (MEV). As a result, the new transaction routing tech can be used by other decentralized financial (DeFi) platforms to ensure every user accesses smart swaps with the best prices once the company releases them for public use.

“We are currently focused on ensuring we have built the best system of its kind in terms of safety, features, performance, and control. Once we are satisfied, everyone in the industry will have a chance to use it for themselves, and will be free to use it how they want,” Jason Linehan, director at Special Mechanisms Group (SMG), noted.

According to Linehan, the new routing technology is not centralized, thus users should not worry about a single entity controlling all the transactions in a given mempool. Furthermore, the new routing tech is intended to be an opt-in feature to give users flexibility in their transactions.

“We have taken such a unique approach with this technology that it doesn’t entirely make sense to call it a private mempool anymore. People tend to think it’s a public mempool if every node sees every message, and a private mempool if only some of the nodes see every message, but why should any node see every message in the first place?” Linehan added.

MetaMask and the Web3 Industry

MetaMask has grown into a mature ecosystem supporting the mass adoption of the web3 industry and digital assets. As of this report, MetaMask boasted more than 100 million global users due to its battle-tested self-custodial approach. MetaMask and other self-custodial wallets like Binance Holdings-backed Trust Wallet gained global recognition mostly after the implosion of FTX and Alameda Research in late 2022.

As a result, existing self-custodial wallets have been working on improving their user experience features to attract more retail investors. Furthermore, secure crypto wallets are the gateway to the vast web3 industry including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), metaverse, gamify, and real-world assets (RWA) tokenization among others.

Market Picture

The cryptocurrency industry is gradually entering the macro bull cycle that will be triggered at an exponential pace by the upcoming Bitcoin halving in April. Additionally, the recent approval of several spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States has increased investors’ confidence in the future of digital assets.