--- title: "Consensys Splits in Two as MetaMask Becomes Its Own Company" date: 2026-09-09 author: "Kathleen Kinder" featured_image: "https://coinlaw.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/consensys-metamask-separation-entities.jpg" categories: - name: "Cryptocurrency" url: "/crypto.md" tags: - name: "News" url: "/tag/news.md" --- # Consensys Splits in Two as MetaMask Becomes Its Own Company Consensys Software Inc. said on September 9, 2026 that it will separate into two independent companies, rebranding itself as MetaMask while moving its Protocols Group and institutional infrastructure business into a newly formed entity that carries the Consensys name. ## The Big Picture - Consensys Software Inc. continues as the same legal entity and rebrands as MetaMask under Joe Lubin as chairman and chief executive. - The Protocols Group and institutional infrastructure unit become a new company named Consensys, led by Mike Kriak with David Cunningham as president. - MetaMask counts more than 100 million downloads across approximately 190 countries and trillions of dollars in cumulative transaction volume. - Citi Institute puts the global tokenized asset market near $17 billion today and projects $5.5 trillion by 2030 in its base case. - Completion of the separation is expected by the end of 2026, with both companies operating independently. ## Consensys Keeps the Name, MetaMask Keeps the Company The legal structure inverts what the branding suggests. **Consensys Software Inc**. continues as the same corporate entity and renames itself **MetaMask** under Lubin. The Consensys name moves to a newly formed company built from the Protocols Group and the institutional infrastructure unit, run by Kriak with Cunningham as president and Lubin as executive chairman. Lubin tied the reorganization to consumer ambition in the [announcement](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260909096183/en/Consensys-Software-Inc.-to-Become-Two-Independent-Companies-MetaMask-the-Consumer-Platform-and-Consensys-the-Protocols-and-Institutional-Infrastructure-Company). “**Going forward, the two companies will keep building the same ecosystem, just with the focus each market now demands,**” he said. MetaMask launched Money Account on June 30, 2026, a self-custodial balance combining automated yield, spending and one-click trading. That product marks the shift this restructuring formalizes, extending [MetaMask’s wallet user and revenue base](https://coinlaw.io/metamask-wallet-statistics/) past swap fees. > Today, MetaMask begins its next chapter as an independent company. > > Consensys Software Inc., the company behind MetaMask, is rebranding as MetaMask, fully focused on the consumer platform. The protocols and institutional infrastructure businesses, including Linea, are becoming a… > > — MetaMask 🦊 (@MetaMask) [September 9, 2026](https://x.com/MetaMask/status/2097689508187680794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) ## Institutional Demand Pulls Linea, Besu and Teku Into Their Own Company The new [Consensys](https://coinlaw.io/consensys-statistics/) inherits the **Linea Layer 2 network**, the Besu Ethereum execution client that sits inside many permissioned EVM networks operated by banks, and the Teku consensus client. Cunningham described the target as interoperability infrastructure for financial marketplaces moving to always-on operations with tokenization at the core. The market sizing behind that pitch needs a closer look. Citi Institute values the current **[global tokenized asset market](https://coinlaw.io/asset-tokenization-statistics/)** at roughly **$17 billion** while projecting $5.5 trillion by 2030 in its base case, $8.2 trillion in its bull case and $2.7 trillion in its bear case. The announcement cited the $5.5 trillion to $8.2 trillion span without noting that it runs from base case to bull case, omitting the bear figure. Have a tip or story? Have an exclusive tip or inside information about crypto or finance? Looking for press coverage? Contact our editorial team. [Contact CoinLaw](https://coinlaw.io/contact-us/) ## Implications for Ethereum’s Commercial Layer Splitting the entity separates two sales motions that rarely reward the same roadmap. Consumer self-custody scales on downloads and transaction fees; institutional infrastructure scales on procurement cycles inside banks and market infrastructure firms. Four things the announcement left open: - **Ownership. Neither company disclosed how equity in the new Consensys is allocated relative to existing shareholders.** - **Capital. Neither entity detailed IPO or token plans alongside the separation.** - **Product coupling. Neither said whether MetaMask keeps default routing and distribution arrangements with Linea after the split.** - **Headcount. Leadership was named for both sides with no word on how engineering teams divide.** MetaMask users keep their own keys, and this restructuring does not alter that. What changes is which company operates the software and holds its commercial partnerships, so anyone tracking counterparty exposure can check which entity becomes the contracting party in MetaMask’s fiat, card and yield integrations before the split closes. ## CoinLaw’s Takeaway This separation reads as a product decision that became a corporate one. Money Account arrived first, and a wallet that holds, spends and earns money needs consumer support, card partnerships and licensing work an enterprise blockchain business has no use for. The institutional half carries the harder claim to prove. Besu already runs inside permissioned bank networks, which gives the new Consensys real distribution. Yet the gap between today’s tokenized market and that 2030 base case spans more than two orders of magnitude, and it has to close in four years for the infrastructure bet to pay. Definition of Blockchain. Link to full glossary entry follows the description.**Blockchain**A distributed digital ledger that records transactions across a network, with each block cryptographically linked to the previous one for security. [Read more](https://coinlaw.io/glossary/blockchain/) Definition of EVM. Link to full glossary entry follows the description.**EVM**The Ethereum Virtual Machine is the runtime environment that executes smart-contract bytecode across every Ethereum node, using a 256-bit stack architecture and [gas](https://coinlaw.io/glossary/gas-fee/)-metered computation. [Read more](https://coinlaw.io/glossary/evm/) Definition of Cross-Chain. Link to full glossary entry follows the description.**Cross-Chain**Cross-chain is the ability to move data or assets between separate blockchains via bridges, messaging protocols, or interoperability networks. [Read more](https://coinlaw.io/glossary/cross-chain/) Definition of Layer 2. Link to full glossary entry follows the description.**Layer 2**A Layer 2 is a secondary [blockchain](https://coinlaw.io/glossary/blockchain/) built on top of Ethereum that bundles transactions off-chain and posts compressed data back to the main chain, cutting fees and raising throughput. [Read more](https://coinlaw.io/glossary/layer-2/)